Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton and a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, answers attendees’ questions during a meet and greet at the UAW Hall in Troy on Thursday as part of her campaign’s Ohio Deserves Better tour.
Candidate discusses $15 minimum wage, tackling corruption. Sam Wildow | AIM Media Midwest
TROY — With a plan in place to visit all 88 counties of Ohio as part of her gubernatorial campaign, Miami County was the first stop for Nan Whaley, who is the mayor of Dayton and a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
On Thursday, Whaley held a meet and greet with community activists and labor members at the UAW Hall in Troy as part of her campaign’s Ohio Deserves Better tour, highlighting her support for a $15 minimum wage, expanding preschool and tackling corruption at the statehouse. “My message to Ohio is this: I want your pay to go up, your bills to go down and your government to actually work for you,” Whaley said. “What does that really mean? It means we’re going to raise wages, starting with raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but we’re not stopping there. It means raising everyone’s wages so that one good job is all you need to provide for your family.” Whaley, who was first elected the mayor of Dayton in 2013, spoke about wanting to expand access to preschool for all Ohioans, like what is available in Dayton.
“In 2016, Dayton voters approved our plan to fund access to high-quality preschool for every 4-year-old in our city and invest in teacher training, as well,” Whaley said. “In just a few short years, we’ve already seen significant improvement in our students and, just as importantly, we know we’ve given families far greater economic opportunity.” Whaley touched on other successes Dayton has had, including cutting the number of accidental overdose deaths in half. “I often say I want Dayton to be known as the place that figured out to treat addiction like the disease that it is,” Whaley said, recounting the combined efforts of government agencies, non-profits and community leaders to help address the opioid epidemic. Whaley also commented on revitalization efforts in Dayton. Whaley said. “We did this all by bringing folks together, even those we don’t always agree with. “But through it all, we haven’t had a partner in Columbus. We haven’t had a state government that wants to help Dayton succeed,” Whaley said. “On a good day, they ignore our communities. On a bad day, they actively try to undermine us.”
In regard to lowering Ohioans’ bills, Whaley spoke about removing the “corruption tax” on electric bills. Whaley referenced last year’s $60 million bribery scandal, which she said Ohioans are still paying for on their electric bills, regardless of their provider. Last year, Larry Householder, former speaker of the Ohio House, and four associates were arrested in July in a $60 million federal bribery case connected to a taxpayer-funded bailout of Ohio’s two nuclear power plants, owned by electric utility company FirstEnergy. Householder was one of the driving forces behind the nuclear plants’ financial rescue, which added a new fee to every electricity bill in the state and directed more than $150 million a year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo. “And how are they going to pay for this bailout? By tacking on a new fee to every single person’s electric bill, every single month, even like you and me, we don’t get our electricity from FirstEnergy.
It’s literally a corruption tax,” Whaley said.
“All of the Columbus insiders were complicit in this scandal, especially (Gov.) Mike DeWine,” Whaley said. “He got FirstEnergy to fund a super PAC for himself, and then he got them to fund a super PAC for his daughter.” Whaley said DeWine “filled his administration” with FirstEnergy lobbyists. “It’s been over a year since we found out about all of this corruption. The Republicans still have not fully repealed the law. You’re still paying to bail out energy companies every single month,” Whaley said. Whaley also criticized DeWine’s response during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “Once the politics got too hard for DeWine, he caved.” She noted Dayton was the first city in Ohio to issue a mask ordinance, “Because he (DeWine) refused to, even though he knew it would keep people safe before the vaccine got here.”
Whaley also talked about the Aug. 4, 2019, mass shooting that took place in Dayton’s Oregon District, when 24-year-old Connor Betts shot and killed nine people and injured 17 others near the entrance of the Ned Peppers Bar. August 4, 2019, was one of the hardest days of my life, said Whaley, who had described waking up to Dayton’s city attorney knocking on her door to tell her there had been a mass shooting. She also described the resiliency she saw at that scene the next morning, saying, “In those faces I saw terrible sorrow, but I also saw incredible resolve.” “The massacre that has happened in Dayton and has happened in too many other communities around the country demands a response,” Whaley said. “I spent months speaking to anyone who would listen about common sense steps we could (do) to keep guns out of the hands of people who wish to harm others. I ran myself and my staff ragged in order to do something.”
BLAMING OTHERS for Your Incompetence: It’s A Mental Disorder Whaley criticized DeWine’s response to the mass shooting, saying, “he said the right things because it was politically convenient. He made a commitment that he knew he wasn’t strong enough to keep. Nine dead people in Dayton simply wasn’t worth the political risk.” Whaley also criticized the state’s “stand your ground” law, saying it will make the state more unsafe. The new law states, “a person has no duty to retreat before using force in self-defense, defense of another or defense of that person’s residence.”
FOOTNOTE: GUN CONTROL — Why is it that most mass shootings happen on the Blue Turf with a Democratic Mayor and many red flags going off before the event.
A whopping 45 million Americans diet and spend $33 billion on weight loss products each year, according to Boston Medical Center. No matter which way you lose weight, dropping the pounds for good comes down to developing a healthy relationship with food and adopting positive habits. That said, we know that losing weight isn’t easy. In fact, not losing weight when you’ve been trying to for a while can be extremely frustrating. That’s why we asked some of the top dietitians to explain why your diet isn’t working and why you’re having trouble dropping the pounds. Learn what surprising mistakes you might be making and how to get on a sustainable path to weight loss success.
You’re focusing too much on the scale
What is your definition of success? “By taking the focus away from weight, a lot of my clients find that they can finally make peace with food and have a better understanding and appreciation for their bodies,” says Wendy Lopez, MS, RD, a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator and the co-founder of Food Heaven Made Easy. “The scale can be very anxiety-inducing, and sometimes, your ‘goal weight’ is unattainable without deprivation and disordered eating.” If you’re eating better and trending toward more nutritious choices, you’ll probably feel the results much quicker than you’ll see them on the scale, adds Jenna A. Werner, RD, creator of Happy Slim Healthy. And there’s nothing wrong with feeling better, even if you’re not losing weight. “Tune in to your mood, sleep, digestion, energy and fitness performance first. How do your dietary changes impact these areas? These non-scale factors make a big difference in your quality of life,” Werner says.
You’re getting healthier without realizing it.
Some of the strongest athletes are classified as overweight or obese on the body mass index (BMI) scale since their frames are filled with so much muscle. With a lifestyle change that includes a different eating strategy and more strength workouts, the reason you’re not losing weight might be simple: “You may be putting on muscle, while simultaneously losing fat. This may result in a shift of composition that is not reflected by the number on the scale,” says Bari Stricoff, RD, a registered dietitian in New York City. For an overall wellness win, strive for more muscle versus lower LBs. “According to a 2018 review published in Annals of Medicine, muscle mass matters. It can impact a person’s strength, energy and mobility. Instead of only focusing on your weight, aim to build and maintain muscle. This is especially important for women aged 40 and older, who can start to lose up to eight percent of muscle mass each decade,” says Abby Sauer, MPH, RD, a registered dietitian at Abbott.
Your motivation starts with shame.
“Make choices from a place of love and self-compassion rather than body shame. You’ll be a lot happier, be more likely to make choices that are best for your body and have a higher chance of sticking with it if you do,” Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN, a registered dietitian and the author of Body Kindness, says. Before you begin a new diet, examine your life holistically: Think about how much you’re sleeping, how your body feels throughout the day, what emotions you’re experiencing and more, suggests Rania Batayneh, MPH, the author of The One One One Diet: The Simple 1:1:1 Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss. “This will help you identify areas of change that will complement your strategy for weight loss. The goal should be achieving a healthier lifestyle, not just losing weight,” Batayneh says. “Everything we do in life is about our mindset. Ideas become thoughts, thoughts lead to action and action leads to results. When you’re making choices with wellness in mind, weight loss will happen naturally,” Batayneh says.
You’re setting a dead person’s goal.
Speaking of goals, are yours reasonable? “Instead of saying ‘I’ll never eat chocolate again,’ which I call a ‘dead person’s goal’ because it’s something only a dead person could do, start to describe the ways you want to enjoy chocolate or any other food you feel you need to avoid forever,” Scritchfield says. For example, tell yourself: “I will savor one square of chocolate after dinner three times each week and enjoy it completely. And if I’m at a birthday party or special celebration with homemade baked goods, I’ll appreciate three bites, then pass on the rest.” “Refuse to repeat the same mistakes you’ve done over and over again for in recent years and in your lifetime. That means to give up the game of dieting if you refuse to play it and can’t win. You’ll be open to the challenges of behavior change when you focus on creating lasting changes that you feel good about,” Scritchfield says.
You’re on a fuel roller coaster.
Feeling hungry every so often is fine, but starving yourself won’t help you lose weight; it just sets you up for overeating when you finally dig in. So don’t skip meals, Lopez advises, and add a snack or two (such as a serving of almonds) when you’re in need of extra fuel. Your metabolism slows when your body isn’t getting the nourishment it needs, she says. “Making small changes such as cutting back on added sugars and saturated fat, and also increasing fiber are great places to start! Small changes lead to bigger lifestyle shifts and more positive long-term outcomes,” Stricoff says.
You’re trying to do too much too soon.
It’s probably clear now that you don’t have to (and shouldn’t!) cut out all carbs or eat only during a six-hour window of time if you want your diet to be a lifelong change. You also shouldn’t expect to shed 15 pounds in one week. “Extreme restrictions on the type of food, how much and when to eat may inadvertently result in excess calorie consumption, especially for individuals with a long-standing history of dieting. Instead, focus on practicing a flexible and realistic diet and moving your body,” Stricoff says. Batayneh recommends small, sustainable steps. Start with one change per month. Master it and add a new one four weeks later. Ideas include: ● Drink one less soda per day ● Add 10 minutes extra of cardio to your workout three times each week ● Drink your coffee black instead of adding cream and sugar ● Use half as much dressing on your salad “Dieters are always looking for the fastest and easiest way to lose weight. And then for some reason, they lose that weight, maintain it for a few days, then regain that weight—plus a few more. Slow and steady is more effective and results in sustainable weight loss,” Batayneh says.
You’re building an unhealthy relationship with food.
The most sustainable strategy starts with a focus on what’s going on in your mind, not what’s going on your menu. “Giving yourself permission to ‘un-diet’ is the first step to a healthier relationship with food, which goes hand-in-hand with a healthy lifestyle,” says Rachel Fine, MS, RD, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of the nutrition counseling firm To the Pointe Nutrition. “I have a sweet tooth. But rather than avoiding my sweet cravings, I face them head on! Enjoying some chocolate every night helps to curb my sweet tooth when presented with more indulgent options,” Fine says. So when Fine is at a restaurant and facing the dessert menu filled with so-so options, she’s less likely to order up (since that square of chocolate awaits and her sweet tooth has been satisfied all week). “There’s no feeling of ‘I have to pack it all in now because I won’t have the chance for a while,’” Fine says. Considering this, Batayneh adds: It seems like more people than ever are following a “no this, no that” diet. Yet at the same time, more people than ever are obese. “If all that restriction worked, would we have such high rates of obesity in this country? I don’t think so,” she explains.
You’re eating too little fiber.
Adjusting your ears may lead to a few more hungry moments. Aiming for 35 grams or more of fiber can help you feel fuller longer, says Maya F. Bach, MPH, RDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Chicago, Illinois. “Dietary fiber promotes positive digestive health by helping to keep us regular. Plus, since fiber-rich foods take longer to be processed by the body, it will be easier to moderate your appetite and calorie intake,” Bach says.
To ramp up your intake, consider:
● Choose produce with a skin (berries) over produce you peel (banana) ● Eat a piece of fruit rather than sipping on a juice or smoothie ● Ask for double veggies at a restaurant instead of veggies and fries ● Stash oatmeal packets at work for a fast-fix breakfast or snack
You’re surrounded by food pushers.
Birthdays, retirements and “Bagel Fridays” abound if you work in an office environment. In fact, the average person consumes 1,277 calories each week by way of free work snacks alone, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That adds up to an extra pound every three weeks, or a bonus 17 pounds for the year. Once you set your get-fit goal, place a visible reminder at your desk. Then, share your wishes with a pal and ask them to be your accomplice. When a craving comes on, you can split that bagel or go for a walk instead of biting into another brownie. “Find a friend or co-worker to be your ally and hold you accountable. You shouldn’t be alone in changing your habits. Find a squad to support you and do it together,” Werner says.
You’re suffering from portion distortion.
Are you overdoing that avocado toast? “There is such a thing as eating too much of a good thing. Just because it is considered a ‘healthy food,’ it doesn’t mean you can eat as much as you want,” Werner warns. While measuring food prepared at home—at least in the beginning—is a solid place to start, according to Fine. Restaurant and cookbook portions are likely larger, per an analysis in the journal Current Obesity Reports. And when you’re presented with a double-sized portion, you’ll consume 35 percent more calories than the standard size, Australian researchers found. Ask for a box when your meal arrives at a restaurant and box up what goes beyond the portion that fits your eating plan.
You’re eating too many diet foods.
When food manufacturers remove fat and sugar, they often substitute in sugar alcohols and other additives to adjust the flavor. “‘Diet Food’ is not synonymous with ‘healthier.’ Instead, eat the original version, and pay more attention to portion size,” says Stricoff. When indulging in the real thing, eating less will likely be satisfying (consider a half-cup of full-fat ice cream compared to a fat-free frozen dessert). “When I splurge, I do so mindfully and tune in to my feelings and how satisfied I’m getting,” Fine says. “It often doesn’t take much.
You’re not giving yourself kudos for the small wins.
No one is perfect. What is the definition of “perfect” anyway? “Think progress—not perfection! It might feel like you’re either ‘on a diet’ or ‘off a diet,’ but you shouldn’t beat yourself up when you’re inching in the right direction. Progress is about moving forward. If you’re aware of a change you can make, work towards it. Contemplation can lead to preparation which will lead to action,” Batayneh says. We all have behaviors that may not be conducive to weight loss (like that extra glass of wine after dinner or the two donut holes you snagged in the office kitchen), but as long as you’re making smarter choices overall, you’re progressing on a healthier path. Plus, you can eat too healthily. Orthorexia is a condition that presents as an obsession with eating only what is perceived as the healthiest foods. “Orthorexics may limit their diet so much that they are setting themselves up for malnutrition, brittle bones and other medical problems,” Batayneh adds.
You’re eating your feelings.
Respond, don’t react to your emotions. “Even the most balanced person you know experiences stress. What makes us all different is how we respond to it,” Batayneh says. “Responding means deciding what you want to do, like planning your indulgences. Reacting is instantaneous: You might do something you’ll regret, like downing pint of ice cream without thinking about how you’ll feel afterward.” While reacting may seem like the quickest and easiest way to feel better, take a moment and respond with a thought. “Think about what will help you manage your feelings. As one of my client’s says, ‘Pick up the phone, not the peanut butter,’ Batayneh says.
Your salad is overloaded.
Ordering a salad is a smart way to sneak in more vegetables, true. But that bowl can be hiding sources of extra fat and calories, according to Mike Roussell, PhD, a nutrition consultant in Rochester, New York. “People will order salads because they think they’re low in calories, but if it has creamy dressing, cheese, bacon, croutons and nuts, then you’re getting a lot more calories than you’d guess,” Roussell says. Ask for the dressing on the side to control the quantity, then choose just two indulgent additions (for example, nuts and cheese).
The reason your diet may not be working may just be hidden in your DNA. “There are so many complicated factors that influence someone’s natural weight range, and the body works hard to defend a certain set point. How much weight someone loses and keeps off is more influenced by biology than personal choices,” Strichfield says. Most people expect immediate and lasting changes in their weight when dieting. Plan for a few bumps in the road, Strichfield says, and set a course of action that works with—not against—your body. “If weight loss is meant to happen in individuals, it will be easy to maintain and still have a flexible, happy life. For example, you go to bed on time to be well-rested for your morning workout. You enjoy balanced eating, but don’t obsess over going out for pizza. Our species is naturally diverse in size, and there are no good studies that prove how we all can lose weight and keep it off. You can’t always control your weight, but you can always control your choices,” she says. Why People Who Eat This Carb After Noon Struggle To Lose Weight (msn.com)
Modern Day Propaganda: Top 10 Pieces – Part 3 (Society) Article posted on The Freedom Articles (click link for original)
This is part 3 of a series (click here for Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 4). Below are 10 pieces of propaganda in general society that often get bandied around without being challenged – and which fool a lot of people. As long as you are determined to find the truth, to keep digging, keep reading, keep exploring and keep demanding satisfactory answers, the lie of the propaganda will reach its expiration date.
\Propaganda in modern times has become both easier and harder to detect. It’s easier to detect in the sense that there are more places to get information and it’s easier to fact check the claims of the MSM (Mainstream Media) by going to the original report and source and seeing for yourself. It’s harder to detect in — that people are busy and distracted, and all too often forget that a giant conglomerate of 6 mega multinational corporations owns 85-90% of the world’s media, and thus the same lie can be promulgated through thousands of avenues, outlets and channels – with some people falsely believing it’s all coming from different sources and representing different opinions. Today’s propaganda is cleverly disguised. And … you know something is horribly wrong when the spokeswoman (Kellyanne Conway) of the “anti-establishment” Trump team claims her team was giving alternative facts. How bad are things when the MSM is the one to correct somebody about truth, lies and the definition of the word “fact”!!
1. Russia hacked the US 2016 election. False. This one smelt right out of the gate. Many in the alternative media have seen through the propaganda for a long time. It was always too convenient for the Clintons, the Democrats and other vested interests to blame the Russians rather than the unpopularity of Hillary, Corruption Queen. The rumor has persisted a long time, probably as a way for the Deep State to blackmail Trump and hold something over him so he will do their bidding, as he did by firing 59 tomahawk missiles into Iraq, or no sorry, Syria – it can be so hard to remember which country we are bombing, especially when eating delicious chocolate cake. Trump admitted on several occasions that the whole affair has been hanging over him and affecting his ability to do his job as president. The whole story is pure propaganda for many reasons. Putin has stated that dark suits run the US, not the puppet president, so it matters little who actually resides in the White House. Often the people shouting out the accusations are actually the guilty ones trying to deflect attention away from their own crimes; put your finger on the map and try to find a place where the US has not interfered in another nation’s elections! Now, thanks to fantastic independent journalism by Project Veritas, we have video footage of CNN supervising producer John Bonifield admitting that the Russian hacking narrative is “bullshit”, that they have “no real proof” and that it was done purely to garner higher ratings.
2. The left and right parties on the political spectrum offer real diversity and choice. Blatantly untrue. There’s no choice when the candidates all stand together on the really important issues, such as who determines the creation and issuance of money, how much control the Government gets over the people and how much secrecy the State grants itself to shroud its advanced black military projects. Candidates that challenge the establishment in truly radical ways such as these (and others), and who rock the foundation by questioning its core constructs, are sidelined and not allowed to go further. The debate is kept within a controlled, manageable spectrum which is acceptable to the NWO conspirators, but which, frustratingly, means that real change will never occur.
3. Your vote counts. False in more ways than one. A famous quote attributed to Stalin is that “it matters not who casts the vote, but who counts the vote”. Vote rigging is rife throughout the US, as explained by Bev Harris (BlackBoxVoting.org) and as could be seen in the 2016 US presidential election in the way that Bernie was kept out of the primaries in favor of Hillary in certain states like Iowa, Nevada, etc. Besides, even if the votes could be completely trusted, we come back to the point above: if the candidates are all the same on all the important topics, what does it matter?
4. Trump is really different from Obama. Sorry, but the answer is no. Yes, some things change every time a Republican president replaces a Democratic president and vice versa, but in the grander scheme of things, these changes are inconsequential. Trump is following suit after Obama in many ways. There is still an illegal US war against Syria, with the US military killing Syrian civilians. There are still 1000+ US military bases around the world, and with Trump increasing the budget, the US military, bullies of the world, ain’t going anywhere. There is still plenty of opium (professionally guarded by US troops) coming out of Afghanistan. There is still a massive surveillance state that continues to expand its reach. There are still billions of dollars flowing to the Zionist regime of Israel to help subdue the Palestinians, and millions of weapons flowing to the Saudis to fund ISIS and other terror groups to undermine Syria. Any difference between Trump, Obama, Hillary, Bush or any other US president (or mainstream presidential candidate) is tiny when compared to the bigger picture of what’s going on in the world. Think about all the passion, energy and attention that went into the 2016 presidential elections. Why? What’s the point of all that focus when the result won’t make you more free, safe, peaceful, prosperous or happy? The whole concept of “democratic elections” is a massive sham. It’s a clever con to get the masses to waste their energy. As a society, if we want real change, we’re going to have to wake up to this and focus our attention on elevating our consciousness and changing the system in a whole different way.
5. Surveillance, data collection and data retention programs are only in place to keep you safe (and protect you against “terrorism”). Outright false. We are living in unprecedented times. A behemoth surveillance state is being constructed all around us. Every month, every week, and every day, technology is advancing at an amazingly rapid rate. The capability to enslave us with this metastasizing technological matrix is a real and present danger. The amount of information that agencies like the CIA and NSA can access about you is already quite scary. Facebook (in league with Deep State agencies) conducts experiments to sway your emotions and moods; Google monitors and correlates your offline activity to all the online ads you’ve been exposed to; China, Japan the US and other nations are now setting uppre-crime systems to find and arrest people before they’ve even committed a crime. The Minority Report film was not fiction, but rather predictive programming. All the information is fed into AI supercomputers who can predict your behavior and end up knowing you better than you know yourself. The goal has always been Total Information Awareness – which uncoincidentally was the precise name of a 2003 US Military program (under DARPA) which was renamed as the Terrorism Information Awareness. Funny thing that, since terrorism is the perennial excuse proffered by the NWO agents for all their draconian implementations, spying and intrusions. Wikipedia states that “according to a 2012 New York Times article, the legacy of Total Information Awareness is “quietly thriving” at the National Security Agency (NSA).“
6. If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to hide. False. This is twisted logic that the State uses to trick you into giving up your privacy and gaining the upper hand over you. In most relationships, the party that knows more has more power. It’s all about information control. Governments are usually ultra secretive and the very last type of organization to heed this piece of propaganda advice that they are dishing out. Governments routinely hide, coverup, classify, redact, “lose”, delete, destroy and suppress as much information as they can, all the time – yet they want access to all of your information! I could call that hypocritical, but that wouldn’t be fair to the word hypocritical. Privacy matters. Society can’t function without privacy. Your rights matter, whether you have done something “wrong” or not. It is your choice to reveal what kind of information about yourself and to whom. Don’t fall for this obvious piece of propaganda designed to disarm you into giving away your power.
7. Manmade global warming is real (and carbon is a toxin). Doesn’t appear so. If man made global warming or A.G.W. (Anthropogenic Global Warming) is real, why did the scientists involved cook the books, and fake the data with hockey stick rises? How is the hype today about global warming different to the hype in the 1970s about global cooling, which never transpired? Isn’t it convenient that either global warming or cooling provides the perfect excuse for the people who grew out of the Manhattan Project, and who are now running weather control and geoengineering programs, to execute their agenda? If global warming is real, why has it demonized CO2 or carbon dioxide, which is a necessary nutrient for all plant life on the planet? If AGW is real, why did the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and other NWO characters tie it into a scheme to create a one world currency and worldwide carbon tax in the 1980s (as overheard by George Hunt)? If AGW is real, why did various NWO think tanks talk about how the need to concoct a serious environmental threat in order to sufficiently scare people into accepting a One World Government?
8. Climate change is the biggest threat to humanity right now. No way! With all the focus on the man-made global warming hoax, it’s time to remember all the serious and real environmental threats we are facing, rather than be distracted by a scam designed to bring in a worldwide carbon tax. Geoengineering (a.k.a. chemtrails, SRM) continues its aerial spraying unabated in many countries around the world, dropping toxic elements from the skies to poison people, animals and plants below. Nuclear radiation, especially from Fukushima, continues to pollute the earth. Industrial pollution (including heavy metal contamination), general pollution (car exhausts, plastics) and synthetic drug pollution (pharma meds) all eventually end up in our waterways, air and/or food supply – not to mention pesticides like glyphosate sprayed on GMOs (see #10 below). California has just declared that glyphosate is a carcinogen. GMOs themselves are a grave environmental threat since they inevitably result in the genetic contamination of the DNA of pure, heirloom, natural or organic organisms (plant or animal).
9. Russia, North Korea, Syria and Iran – and Muslims in General – are the “Enemy”. If you believe this, first ask yourself: have these nations, peoples and cultures done anything to you personally? Have they threatened or attacked you? I doubt it. So why would you allow the Government, MSM and Corporatocracy tell you who the “enemy” is? Even if by some chance one of some of these people have wronged you, does it make sense to fear and hate an entire group just because of the actions of a few individuals? Remember, the military (and usually the State) need an enemy to survive and justify their own existence. The reality is that we don’t have to have any “enemies”, because the very fact of designating someone as an enemy shows that mutual respect, understanding and diplomacy have failed. It indicates a turning away from trying to understand each other and to find a mutually beneficial win-win arrangement – which is always there if we look and try hard enough. It’s laziness. It’s saying: “it’s too hard to work things out with this person or group, so I’m just going to designate them as someone or something worthy of disrespect, contempt and perhaps even worth slaying and destroying”. There can never be genuine peace while this attitude lurks at the foundation of our beliefs. If you’re interested in actually forming your own opinions, read these articles on Russia and Putin, North Korea, Syria, Iran and Islam for some crucial background and context you’re not getting from the MSM.
10. GMOs will feed the world. Absolutely untrue. This type of propaganda is used by Big BioTech and Big Agra (who are very closely aligned with Big Pharma, as the merger between Bayer and Monsanto showed) to justify their anti-freedom and anti-health actions, i.e. patenting and monopolizing seeds (anti-freedom) and spraying toxic and synthetic chemicals all over the food (anti-health). A March 2015 report Feeding the World Without GMOs by EWG revealed that: “[GMOs] have not significantly improved the yields of crops such as corn and soy. Emily Cassidy, an EWG research analyst who authored the report, found that in the last 20 years, yields of both GE corn and soy have been no different from traditionally bred corn and soy grown in western Europe, where GE crops are banned. Additionally, a recent case study in Africa found that crops that were crossbred for drought tolerance using traditional techniques improved yields 30 percent more than GE varieties … The report also said that in the two decades that GE crops have been a mainstay in conventional agriculture, they “have not substantially improved global food security” and have instead increased the use of toxic herbicides and led to herbicide-resistant “superweeds“.”
Conclusion: Be on Your Toes, and You Will Overcome All the Propaganda
“Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.” ~ Hippocrates. The Famous Father of Medicine.
Changing what you eat: Could add up to 13 years to your life, according to a newly published study, especially if you start when you are young. The study created a model of what might happen to a man or woman’s longevity if they replaced a “typical Western diet” focused on red meat and processed foods with an “optimized diet” focused on eating less red and processed meat and more fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts. If a woman began eating optimally at age 20, she could increase her lifespan by just over 10 years, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine. A man eating the healthier diet from age 20 could add 13 years to his life.
Focusing on a healthier diet: Could also lengthen the lives of older adults, the study said. By starting at age 60, a woman could still increase her lifespan by eight years. Men starting a healthier diet at age 60 might add nearly nine years to their lives. A plant-based eating style could even benefit 80-year-olds, the study said: Men and women could gain about 3.5 years of extra life from dietary changes. “The notion that improving diet quality would reduce the risk of chronic disease and premature death is long established, and it only stands to reason that less chronic disease and premature death means more life expectancy,” said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine and nutrition, who was not involved in the study.
Katz, the president and founder of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine, has published research on how to use food as preventive medicine. “What they define as an ‘optimal’ diet is not quite optimal; it’s just a whole lot better than ‘typical,'” Katz said, adding that he felt diet could be “further improved, conferring even greater benefits.” “My impression is that their ‘much improved’ diet still allowed for considerable doses of meat and dairy,” Katz said, adding that when his team scores diet quality objectively, “these elements are at quite low levels in the top tier.”
To model the future impact of a person’s change of diet, researchers from Norway used existing meta-analyses and data from the Global Burden of Disease study, a database that tracks 286 causes of death, 369 diseases and injuries, and 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories around the world. The largest gains in longevity were found from eating more legumes, which include beans, peas and lentils; whole grains, which are the entire seed of a plant; and nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pecans and pistachios, the study found. It may sound simple to add more plants and grains to your diet, but statistics show that Americans struggle to do so. A new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found few Americans eat close to their daily recommendations of fruits and vegetables.
The CDC study found that only 12% of adults consume 1½ to 2 cups of fruit each day, which is the amount recommended by the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Only 10% of Americans eat the recommended 2 to 3 cups of vegetables each day, including legumes. About 50% of grain consumption should be whole grains, yet over 95% of Americans fail to meet that goal, according to the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, instead eating processed grains, which have been milled to remove the grain, bran and many nutrients, including fiber. Over 50% of Americans fail to eat the 5 grams (about a teaspoon) of recommended nuts and seeds each day, the guidelines said. Nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains contain more than just protein. They include healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and antioxidant “phytochemicals” that have been associated with lower risk of chronic diseases.
Red and processed meats: Eating less red and processed meat such as bacon, sausage and preserved deli meats was also linked to longer life. That makes good sense: Red and processed meats have been linked to significant health risks, including coronary heart disease and bowel cancer. “There’s substantial evidence that processed meat can cause bowel cancer — so much so that the World Health Organization has classified it as carcinogenic since 2015.” Oxford University epidemiologist Tim Key, a member of the UK Department of Health’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, told CNN in a prior interview. Replacing red and processed meats with lean poultry, fish and plant proteins is one way to improve a diet quickly, experts say.
Plant proteins include soybeans (edamame), chickpeas, lentils and other legumes, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds, and whole grains like quinoa. Some vegetables, like broccoli, also contain higher levels of protein. A 2020 study which tracked more than 37,000 middle-aged Americans found those who ate the most plant protein was 27% less likely to die of any cause and 29% less likely to die of coronary heart disease than people who ate the least amount of plant protein. “The benefit is more pronounced when red and processed meats are replaced by plant protein sources,” study coauthor Dr. Frank Hu, chair of the department of nutrition at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told CNN in a prior interview.
How to improve your diet: One way to incorporate more plants into your diet and consume less red meat is with the Mediterranean diet, which has won best diet five years in a row, according to U.S. News & World Report. Tied for silver was the DASH diet, which stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension, and the Flexitarian diet, which encourages being a vegetarian most of the time. All of these diets focus on meals full of fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts and seeds. An easy way to start eating the Mediterranean way is to cook one meal each week based on beans, whole grains and vegetables, using herbs and spices to add punch. Want to lose weight from sleeping? Try extending your sleep time so you are not sleep deprived.
That’s the startling outcome of a randomized trial that asked young, overweight adults who typically slept less than six and a half hours to try to sleep about eight and a half hours a night for two weeks. At the end of that short amount of time, many of those who did extend their sleep to a healthier length decreased their calorie intake by an average of 270 calories a day, according to the study published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Some of the study participants cut their intake by 500 calories each day, the study found. “This is almost like a game changer for weight loss or weight maintenance,” said study author Dr. Esra Tasali, an associate professor of medicine who directs the Sleep Research Center at the University of Chicago. The researchers projected their findings into the future. They found that eating 270 fewer calories a day would translate to a loss of 26 pounds over three years, all by doing nothing more than getting additional sleep. “A small intervention you can do to yourself to increase or preserve your sleep duration so you are not sleep deprived can have a significant impact on healthy weight,” Tasali said.
One of the strengths of the study: Was the fact that it happened in a real-world setting, not a sleep lab, and used an objective urine test to measure calories instead of relying on people’s recall of what they ate. “This is a very well-done study answering an important question,” said Dr. Bhanuprakash Kolla, a sleep psychiatrist and neurologist in the Center for Sleep Medicine and the Division of Addiction Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He was not involved in the study. “They clearly showed that as you increase the amount of sleep, energy intake reduced and this in turn led to modest reductions in weight,” Kolla said. “It is likely that if this were extended, there could be more significant changes in weight.”
Sleep and hunger are related: Just how does sleeping longer help you lose weight? One reason is the impact lack of sleep has on two key hormones that control hunger and satiety: ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin stimulates hunger and has been shown to increase with sleep deprivation. Its partner, leptin, tells us when we are full. “Leptin has been shown to decrease with sleep restriction. Therefore, when we are sleep deprived, we have less of this hormone and therefore less of a brake on our appetite,” Kolla said. It’s not just people who are overweight who find themselves craving carbs and adding pounds when they are sleep deprived, said Kristen Knutson, an associate professor of sleep and preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.
“Studies that observed increased appetite after sleep loss were in people who were not overweight. Getting sufficient sleep has health benefits for everyone regardless of body weight,” Knutson said. Another way poor sleep impacts our eating choices can be found in the brain’s reward centers, the spot that gives us pleasurable feelings we want to repeat. “The reward centers in the brain get more activated when you are sleep deprived, which increases your craving for carbohydrates or junk food or a higher overall food intake,” Tasali said. Then there’s the problem of insulin resistance, which increases with sleep deprivation and leads to weight gain. “Several laboratory studies have shown that if you were to do a sugar tolerance test in the morning to sleep-deprived individual versus well-rested individual, you would see a pre-diabetic, insulin-resistant state in the morning,” Tasali said.
An easy intervention: How difficult was it for people to add more sleep to their lives? Not that hard at all, Tasali said. Each person underwent an hour-long counseling session about their sleeping style. “It was very personalized, focused on trying to review people’s lifestyles, their work-related limitations, their family members, their pets, children and bedtime routines,” she said. “Then we talked to them about improving their sleep hygiene, such as putting away electronics before bed.” That’s because blue light stops the release of melatonin, the body’s sleepy time hormone. Sleep experts advise that any blue light emitting devices — smartphones, laptops and televisions, to name a few — be put away 45 minutes to an hour before bed.
Other sleep hygiene tips include: Sleeping in a cool bedroom (about 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 to 20 degrees Celsius); skipping spicy food and alcohol before bed; dampening sounds; and having a soothing bedtime ritual, which could include taking a warm bath or shower, reading a book, listening to soothing music, deep breathing, yoga, meditation, or light stretches. Tasali said she saw changes after just one week of the two-week sleep improvement program.
“Some of them said to me, ‘I thought I was going to be less productive. You’re giving me so much time in bed, how am I going to do all this work that I’m supposed to do?’
And at the end of the two weeks, they kept telling me that they were more productive, because they were more energized and more alert.” One of the study’s limitations, Kolla said, is that none of the subjects suffered from insomnia or other major sleep disorders, which impact millions of people.
“These are only subjects who do not have sleep disturbances but have what we would call behaviorally induced insufficient sleep,” he said. “While the goal was to extend to 8.5 hours, it is quite likely that a majority of people do not require that much amount of sleep. So future work must look at participant-specific information to see who is likely to benefit from this kind of intervention.” Despite those limitations, he said it’s clear people who are attempting to lose weight should pay attention “to the amount of sleep they are getting — avoiding voluntary sleep deprivation — is going to play an important role.” These Everyday Activities Proven to Cause Cancer, Say Experts — Eat This Not That
CU scientists hail recent supply expansion as game-changer in drive for evidence-based care. Artin (Art) Shoukas, PhD, a Johns Hopkins University professor emeritus, would have never dreamed he’d be using marijuana every night in his retirement years. He melts the medicinal form – mostly cannabidiol (CBD) with just a touch of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – under his tongue before dinner. It helps him sleep. But not just because of its reported slumber-inducing effects. He takes a full-spectrum, cannabis-based product to calm his legs.
Diagnosed with restless legs syndrome (RLS) in 1991, when the relentless feeling of “ants crawling” inside his legs became intense and life-altering, Shoukas tried everything his doctor at Johns Hopkins suggested. Iron supplements. Quinine. Eventually, he resorted to OxyContin after finding it helped his RLS following an unrelated surgical procedure. The opioid worked. But the professor of physiology and biomedical engineering knew the drug class behind a nationwide health crisis wasn’t a sustainable answer. Then he found Jacquelyn (Jacci) Bainbridge, PharmD, a professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Bainbridge, a professor in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, helps conduct cannabis-related clinical trials on campus and educates students and consumers on the growing need for evidence-based facts.
‘Does it work for everybody?’ “I started to get worried about the use of OxyContin,” Shoukas said. “It’s habit-forming. So, I tried to come off it, and I did. But the RLS came back, and it was instantaneous.”
In search of an alternative, Shoukas went to the RLS Foundation website, where he spotted a webinar by Bainbridge on CBD effects. She and colleagues study cannabis for medicinal uses, including groundbreaking investigations led by Emily Lindley, PhD, and Rachael Rzasa Lynn, MD, into using cannabis as an opioid alternative. After much trial and error working closely with Bainbridge and his healthcare provider, Shoukas’s “itchy, twitchy” legs are still. He doesn’t promote other people experimenting with cannabis on their own. But he’s excited about the related research taking place on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus that might lead to other patients finding cannabis-therapy success. “It actually is more effective,” Shoukas said of his CBD-based therapy compared to the opioid. “This is very individualized, though. As my colleague (Bainbridge) says, cannabis comes from a plant,” Shoukas said. “It depends on where it’s grown, how it’s grown, what time of the year it’s harvested and how it’s processed. “It’s not a pharmacological agent (except for Epidiolex®, FDA approved for certain types of epilepsy) where you give a strict formula for it. It’s a plant.
Does it work? Works for me. Does it work for everybody? I’d like to know.” It’s one of many questions Bainbridge and colleagues have been trying to answer since becoming the first university in the state to launch cannabis clinical trials in 2016. Can cannabis reduce opioid use? Can it work with other issues, from Parkinson’s disease to back pain? Does THC improve the effects of CBD or other cannabinoids? What are the potential side effects and serious drug contraindications consumers need to know? As cannabis legalization progresses, and product marketing surges across the country, many states and universities are seeking to address the questions regarding cannabis’ clinical applicability, but it isn’t easy. Patient use fuels research drive After Colorado and Washington became the first states to open marijuana dispensary doors to recreational use in 2012, many people began experimenting with cannabis to ease ailments, said Maureen Leehey, MD, a University of Colorado School of Medicine neurology professor and one of the first researchers on campus to launch cannabis trials. “My Parkinson’s patients are usually in their 60s and 70s, and their adult children we’re telling them: You should give this a try,” Leehey said. Of those patients who did try cannabis, some reported improved symptoms, from better sleep to reduced tremors; however, others described bad experiences, including hallucinations, dizziness, nausea and sleep disturbances, she said.
“That’s what stimulated us,” Leehey said of herself and her colleagues, who wanted to protect their patients while providing evidence-based care? “We need to know: Is it effective, and is it safe?” said Bainbridge, also a professor in the Department of Neurology, who works closely with Leehey. “We need answers to these questions, answers that we can only get through clinical research.”
Hurdles stall clinical studies. Winning the government green light for clinical trials at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus took two years after Lindley and Leehey received the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment first-ever grants for cannabis clinical trials in 2014. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has strict licensing regulations for providers to dispense cannabis and complex requirements for securing cannabis products at the facility conducting the clinical trials – which the university worked hard to make happen, Leehey said.
But one of the biggest hurdles Leehey and medical scientists across the country have faced is a government restriction on the cannabis supply they can use. Since 1968, researchers have been limited to only one cannabis supplier: a National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)-contracted facility at the University of Mississippi. “It wasn’t supplying the full gamut of products that we needed,” Leehey said. The constraint has delayed moving forward with clinical trials involving the use of cannabis and slowed progression of publishing evidence-based data establishing efficacy and safety parameters. Now, after years of pressure on the government to open the door to more manufacturers, the restriction is lifting. This past year, the DEA announced it was in the process of approving more domestic manufacturers. “I think it’s going to be any day now that we can get the products,” Leehey said. The move, she said, will be a game-changer for cannabis-related studies. “It means everything to me as a researcher. I need a good variety of products. These other companies are producing a much better range of types of products, combinations of different components of cannabis and different methods of delivery.”
Studying varying strains, or chemovars, is important, especially as the types of cannabis consumers are getting from dispensaries today are far more diverse and potent than cannabis of the past. “I know exactly what’s inside of it,” Shoukas said of the pills he gets from a “highly-controlled” provider. “With most cannabis products, you don’t know what you’re getting,” he said, emphasizing the need for clinical trials. “Even if it’s a pharmacological agent, you still need to do clinical trials, because everybody’s different. You don’t know what the reaction is going to be for a lot of agents. It gets worse with cannabis, because there’s really no fixed control over what you are doing and what you are getting.” Mode of delivery also matters, Bainbridge said. “Products are absorbed differently, depending on how they’re consumed.
So, is it edible? Is it oral? Is it smoked? Is it vaporized?” “With the oral products you can actually see variations in bioavailability with your dosage, even if it’s the same product, in the same person,” Bainbridge said. “There’s also a lag to onset with the oral products, and they can last longer depending on if and what you ate prior to administration.”
Often, vaporizing the product for trial participants is a preferred research method because its effects are quicker, and it’s safer than smoking, since combustibles pose a health risk, Bainbridge said. Now, with the upcoming greater supply, sublingual products will be available, Leehey said. Melting a product under the tongue, as Shoukas does each night, is also quicker acting (for some products) than edibles and a popular mode with consumers, she said. “It’s offering us much better opportunities.” Other big questions need answers. A question Leehey is often asked and has been unable to adequately study is whether having some THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid, makes a therapy more effective. “In my opinion, yes, but that is just my opinion,” she said. “That is a major, basic experiment that needs to be done, and we haven’t been able to do it because we haven’t been able to get the variety of products that we need.” While researchers know CBD and THC interact with the endocannabinoid, inflammatory and nociceptive (pain-sensing) systems in the body, the exact nature of how they do so still need to be studied.
Although side effects with CBD are low, Bainbridge said, potentially harmful drug interactions and/or contraindications exist. That creates a real danger to patients using products without medical supervision. “CBD is metabolized through the liver like other drugs are, so they can interfere and compete,” Leehey said. “There are a lot of interactions that can happen. CBD is also a highly protein-bound drug, so it can displace other protein-bound drugs and make them more potent. It needs to be studied further.” Serious negative CBD interactions, for example, have been seen with blood thinners, heart medications, acid-reflux drugs, immunosuppressants and anti-seizure medications. Leehey and colleagues are finding some promising results, although their studies are still preliminary, she said. The need to close the knowledge gap grows along with the number of people like Shoukas trading pharmaceutical agents for cannabis products. “The medical marijuana thing is real, and it helps people,” said Shoukas, who can now sleep next to his wife without waking her and sit comfortably for longer than 20 minutes again. But with too many people “just taking cannabis off the shelf,” his success story is not enough, Shoukas said. “That’s why you need clinical trials. You need to really settle in on what works, what doesn’t work, for most of the population. Not for a man of one.”
Terminology: What’s the Difference? Cannabis is a plant subdivided into two categories: marijuana (containing > 0.3% THC by dry weight volume; and hemp (containing < 0.3% THC by dry weight volume). Originating in Asia, cannabis contains more than 480 chemical constituents, as defined by U.S. federal law. (1-3) The two main varieties of cannabis are Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica. Most plants grown today are hybrids. (4)
Additionally, the cannabis plant contains over 100 known Phyto cannabinoids with THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and cannabidiol (CBD) being the most well studied.
Cannabidiol (CBD): An extract from either the cannabis/marijuana or hemp plant. Cannabis/marijuana: DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) schedule 1 with the primary federal agency with regulatory oversight being the DEA and the FDA (Federal Drug Administration).
Hemp: De-scheduled by the DEA. The 2018 Farm Bill expanded the definition of hemp to include cannabinoids, derivatives and extracts with < 0.3% THC, the primary federal agency with regulatory oversight being the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and FDA.
Cannabinoids: Compounds found in the cannabis plant and/or contribute to an interaction with cannabinoid receptors (endocannabinoids, Phyto cannabinoids, synthetic cannabinoids). (5-7)
CBD and THC: Two main cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. CBD is non-psychoactive (non-euphoric). THC is the plant’s chief psychoactive (euphoric) component.
Full Spectrum: Cannabis based product which could include unlabeled THC.
Broad Spectrum: Cannabis based product which is claimed to contain no THC.
Medical marijuana and medical cannabis: Terms used for products derived from the cannabis plant to treat medical conditions.
Hemp Seed oil: Byproduct of cannabis seeds to obtain oil. It contains trace amounts of cannabinoids and terpenes. Used in manufacturing soap, paints, food products, etc. and does not contain THC.
Terpenes: Gives cannabis the smell and taste. Research is investigating potential benefits of terpenes. Additional terminology can be found in other sources at great detail and incorporates what is listed above. (8-9)
This article was originally published on Cannabis.net Cannabis has a vast array of therapeutic potential. The cannabinoids in the plant are anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-bacterial. Studies have shown that cannabis-derived medications help with weight loss, stress and pain relief, improving lung capacity, among other benefits. In recent decades, extensive research has been conducted to determine the therapeutic potential of cannabis for liver conditions and the level of receptivity of localized receptors in the liver to cannabinoids. In this post, we’ll explore and break down the available research showing the relative effects of medical cannabis on liver diseases and whether or not cannabis can cause adverse effects on the liver.
The Purpose of the Liver The liver is located on the right side of the body, just beneath the diaphragm and above the gallbladder. An average-sized adult liver weighs 1.4 kg. It has two unequally sized lobes known as the right lobe and the left lobe. Of the two, the right lobe is larger. Both are connected by connective tissue, which keeps the organ attached to the abdominal wall. This singular organ plays a vital role in sustaining the body, one of which is excretion. It filters out the good and valuable components of ingested materials and passes the rest on to be excreted from the body. It is regarded as a natural detoxifier. The most important part of the liver is the portal vein. This vein transports the original blood vessel from the digestive organs to the liver for sorting through. The liver filters out the harmful materials and sends off the blood, containing only suitable materials. The liver produces bile (to break down fat compounds). Vitamin K is one of the essential vitamins the liver needs to produce protein juices used for clotting in case of injuries.
Common Liver Conditions Like other vital human organs, there’s only so much a liver can handle. It does a lot of work processing natural and synthetic materials, some of which are drugs. A study pointed out that not all livers have evolved enough to process synthetic materials. This is why they break down after encountering such materials continuously. Not all liver conditions are severe, but some could be fatal. Some common liver conditions include fibrosis, hepatitis, fatty liver disease, and cirrhosis. The primary cause of most of these diseases is a poor and unhealthy lifestyle. Alcoholism and excessive drug use are two leading causes of liver conditions, followed closely by obesity and other unchecked or untreated ailments. For example, cirrhosis occurs when fibrosis is either undetected or untreated. So many things could go wrong in the liver because every ingested material goes through it. The liver is scarred by excessive drugs, alcohol, and unhealthy meals.
Treating And Managing Liver Conditions Often, the liver can repair its cells as some of the conditions are reversible. In advanced cases like fibrosis, it is managed with healthy living and medications. Leaving a liver disease untreated could cause it to degenerate into worse conditions like liver failure and even death. If the liver has a bad case of scar tissue buildup, the patient’s only option could be a liver transplant (which is difficult and costly to find).
The Liver and Cannabis The future role of cannabinoids in maintaining liver function is being investigated around the world. While it is impossible to draw conclusions now, it is not out of place to state that they have sound potential. Here is a look at the level of research carried out so far.
Cannabis and Fibrosis The endocannabinoid system is made up of receptors. The most important ones are CB1 and CB2. These receptors occur in the body along with enzymes in relative amounts. The body also produces natural cannabinoids and endocannabinoids. These compounds ensure that all body functions are regulated and normal. When cannabis is ingested, the cannabinoids interact with the ECS receptors to produce a similar effect as endocannabinoids. There are limited CB1 and CB2 receptors in the liver, but there are higher amounts in diseased livers than in healthy ones. Scientists suggest that these receptors are vital to the regeneration process of scarred tissues in the organ. Parfieniuk and Flisaik explained this complex process in a 2008 study. The scientists proposed that the receptors have opposing roles. CB1 functions as a profibrogenic and proinflammatory compound, while CB2 opposes these functions. For patients suffering from fibrosis, CB1 has the potential to worsen the condition, while CB2 can be used to manage it. Only cannabis plants that can activate the CB2 receptor can be used to treat liver conditions. In 2011, further studies showed that CB2 receptors have the potential to kill malignant cells in the liver and reduce the buildup of scarred tissue. If the ECS is properly manipulated, CBD-derived cannabis medications can be helpful for fibrosis.
Cannabis and Hepatitis Hepatitis is gradually rising to be one of the major causes of fatalities around the world. It is a physically-taxing ailment that is extremely difficult to treat, and it has no cure. The disease can induce an immune-modulated liver condition. The available research on this was conducted on mice, and the information cannot be used for humans. In the rodents, the scientists observed a reduction in cytokine levels by anandamides. When cannabis is ingested in humans, it makes many anandamide compounds available to receptors by inhibiting FAAH. Still, it’s unclear whether the cytokine levels in humans would be reduced due to this.
Final Note: The Impact of Cannabis on the Liver The effects of cannabis on the liver are still unclear. Scientists have not been able to establish whether or not the drug is bad or good. However, they have emphasized that those with liver conditions have no business smoking cannabis and should consume it orally. More research is needed to explain the in-depth relationship between cannabinoids and the liver, primarily THC and CBD. It is important to note that in human subjects, CBD interacts with ingested medications. It inhibits the production of the liver enzyme cytochrome P450 (used to break down drugs and foreign materials). Before consuming CBD-based medicine, consult a medical professional. This way, you’ll be sure the medication is doing more good than harm. Published on Benzigna
2020 Migration Trends: U-Haul Ranks 50 States by Migration Growth. PHOENIX, Ariz. (Jan. 4, 2021) — If you’re of the opinion Tennessee is a fun place to visit and would be a beautiful spot to live, take a number and get in line. U-Haul® customers are well ahead of you. The Volunteer State posted the largest net gain of U-Haul® trucks crossing its borders in 2020, making it the No. 1 U-Haul growth state for the first time. Growth states are calculated by the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks entering a state versus leaving that state in a calendar year. Migration trends data is compiled from more than 2 million one-way U-Haul truck customer transactions that occur annually. Tennessee’s influx of do-it-yourself movers during a turbulent year marked by the coronavirus pandemic means that a state other than Florida and Texas tops the growth rankings for the first time since 2015, when North Carolina led the way.
U-Haul customers made Texas and Florida their top two destinations from 2016-19. Texas had the largest net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks for three consecutive years before Florida flipped the order and became No. 1 last year. Texas is second for growth, and Florida third, for 2020. Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia round out the top 10 states for 2020 growth as self-movers continue to migrate to the Southeast, as well as markets in the Southwest, Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions. California ranks last by a wide margin, supplanting Illinois as the state with the greatest net loss of U-Haul trucks. California has ranked 48th or lower since 2016. Illinois has been 49th or 50th since 2015, when U-Haul began ranking states based on annual net gain. “I’m seeing a lot of people from California move (to Tennessee) because they’re attracted to our lifestyle,” noted Jeff Porter, U-Haul Company of Nashville president. “Tennessee has no income tax and is very business-friendly. There are plenty of jobs. People and companies are taking note. Places like Nashville, Murfreesboro and Clarksville are attracting tons of new residents. Nashville is ever-growing, and even the era of COVID-19 isn’t slowing that. We were seeing movement before the virus hit, but I think the situation has pushed a lot more people away from the West Coast to our state.”
East and Central Tennessee are enjoying the biggest gains in U-Haul arrivals. The top growth cities include Knoxville, the Tri-Cities, Cookeville, Clarksville, Cleveland, Murfreesboro and Maryville. Arrivals of one-way U-Haul trucks into Tennessee jumped 12% while departures rose only 9% over 2019, with that disparity catapulting it up the charts. Arrivals accounted for 50.6% of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Tennessee, which ranked No. 12 among growth states a year ago.
“The best thing about Tennessee is the southern hospitality. People are decent to one another,” said Clay McQuade, U-Haul Company of Knoxville president. “I believe the draw to Tennessee is the rural atmosphere. The government is still not so oppressive on zoning and regulation, so people are able to build, and cities are friendly to business. Tourism is a big draw in this region, mostly for the Great Smoky Mountains. There’s plenty to do outdoors. “U-Haul is growing right alongside the state. We just added adaptive reuse conversions of closed Kmart® stores for new facilities in Kingsport and Bristol and are currently building a ground-up store in Knoxville to meet customer demand for our products and services.”
While U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the Company’s growth data is an effective gauge of how well cities and states are attracting and maintaining residents. U-Haul is the authority on migration trends thanks to its expansive network that blankets all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The geographical coverage from more than 22,000 U-Haul truck- and trailer-sharing locations provides a comprehensive overview of where people are moving like no one else in the industry.
* Tennessee claims No. 1 spot for first time; Texas in top 2 for fifth straight year.
2020: STATES RANKED BY MIGRATION GROWTH
1. Tennessee (12) 2. Texas (2) 3. Florida (1) 4. Ohio (7) 5. Arizona (20) 6. Colorado (42) 7. Missouri (13) 8. Nevada (24) 9. North Carolina (3) 10. Georgia (16) 11. Arkansas (23) 12. Indiana (9) 13. Wisconsin (41) 14. Oklahoma (14) 15. South Carolina (4) 16. West Virginia (22) 17. Utah (8) 18. Kentucky (37) 19. Montana (26) 20. Minnesota (15) 21. Kansas (18) 22. Alabama (6) 23. New Hampshire (31) 24. Iowa (30) 25. South Dakota (28) 26. Vermont (10) 27. Delaware (21) 28. Virginia (39) 29. Maine (33) 30. Idaho (11) 31. Mississippi (25) 32. Nebraska (19) 33. Wyoming (27) 34. Alaska (17) 35. Rhode Island (35) 36. Washington (5) 37. North Dakota (32) 38. Washington, D.C. (38) 39. New Mexico (36) 40. Michigan (48) 41. Pennsylvania (46) 42. New York (43) 43. Connecticut (34) 44. Louisiana (40) 45. Oregon (29) 46. Maryland (45) 47. Massachusetts (47) 48. New Jersey (44) 49. Illinois (50) 50. California (49)
Hawaii is not included since state-to-state truck transactions are inapplicable. * Previous year’s rankings in parentheses. Washington, D.C. is its own U-Haul market and is listed among growth states for migration trends purposes. Please click on the state you are interested in to view that state’s information:
Each page includes the following: Geography & Demographics State Abbreviation: The two-letter abbreviation for each state. State Capital: The capital city of the state. State Size: The area of the state, both total (land + water) and land only. Number of Counties: The number of counties for each state. Time Zone: List the time zone(s) of each state. Some states extend to more than one time zone. Bordering States: List of bordering states of each state. Highest Point: The highest peak of each state. National Parks: List of national parks for each state. 2020 State Population: The estimated population for each state in 2020, based on US Census data. You can also find information on state population 2015, state population 2010, state population 2005, and state population 2000. State Population Density: How crowded is each state on average, measured by number of residents per square mile. Area Codes: The telephone area codes for each state. Top 5 Cities (2010 population): The top 5 cities for each state, based on 2010 US Census data. Government & Legislature Statehood: When each state was admitted into the Union. State Electoral Votes in 2024: The number of electoral votes each state has for the 2024 Presidential Election. State Flag: The picture for the state flag for each state. Governor: Link to the official website of the State Governor. U. S. Senators: List of U. S. Senators from each state. U. S. Representatives: List of U. S. Representatives from each state. State Senators: List of State Senators, typically the higher chamber of the state legislature. State Representatives / Assembly Members / Delegates: List of members of the lower chamber of the state legislature. State Government: Link to the official state government site. State Constitution: The constitution of each state. Same-Sex Marriage Legalization Date: The date same-sex marriage was legalized for each state. Road Conditions: Link to the website providing current road conditions for each state. State Quarter Issue Date: The date the State Quarter commemorating each state was issued. State Symbols This section lists the symbols of each state. Common state symbols include the state bird, the state flower, the state motto, the state nickname, and the state tree. Sports Teams Major Sports Teams: Teams in each state that belong to The Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS). NCAA Division I Schools: List of NCAA Division I institutions for each state. The primary conference affiliation for each institution is listed in parenthesis. Popular Tourist Attractions List top family-friendly points of interest of the state based on the number of times people search for them. If you are traveling to this state and want to know where to visit, you can use this list as the starting point. Famous People List of famous people who were born in each state. This list includes Nobel Prize winners, presidents of the United States, sports Hall of Famers, actors / actresses, and singers. Fun Facts: Interesting facts for each state, including the origin of the state name, most notable landmarks and historical events, geographic features, and funny laws. All facts listed here have been researched and verified as current. About U-Haul Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers, with a network of 22,000 locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 offers secure access to U-Haul trucks every hour of every day through the customer dispatch option on their smartphones and our proprietary Live Verify technology. Our customers’ patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to approximately 176,000 trucks, 127,000 trailers and 41,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers nearly 774,000 rentable storage units and 66.7 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities throughout North America. U-Haul is the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry, and is the largest retailer of propane in the U.S.
Kimmey Meyleman was told that she had COVID by the Chinese-of course, she had no idea until she arrived for the games as one of the Belgian athletes. They quarantined her in what looked like a rundown Motel Six and starved her with little to no meals.
Is this how the Communist plan on winning the games by weakening their opponents?
After many complaints she is now in a better room with better food, but this had to at least shake her confidence before her competition.
Winter Olympics: IOC intervenes as tearful Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meyleman’s breaks down in ‘totally unacceptable’ Beijing 2022 isolation. Meyleman’s posts emotional video documenting her ordeal after being put in fresh quarantine facility instead of Olympic Village, despite negative PCR tests.
IOC statement says 25-year-old will be moved to single room in Village on Thursday after outcry on social media. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has intervened after Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meyleman’s posted an emotional video on social media documenting her treatment in isolation ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
After testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in China, Meyleman’s said she was told she could leave a quarantine hotel after three days of isolation — and multiple negative PCR tests.
But rather than return her to the Olympic Village, an ambulance took the 25-year-old to another nearby facility for seven additional days of isolation, where she broke down in tears on Wednesday as she recalled her ordeal from her room. The Global Athlete organization decried the treatment of Meyleman’s as “totally unacceptable”, with the I.O.C. swiftly released a statement saying she will be given a room in the Olympic Village on Thursday.
“Hi everybody. Some of you have read the good news that I was sent out of the isolation facility,” Meyleman’s said in her video. “We thought this would mean I was allowed to return to the Olympic Village and be treated maximum as a close contact. “On the way to the Village we did not turn to the Village, but the ambulance went to another facility where I am now.
“I am supposed to stay here for another seven days with two PCRs [tests] a day and no contact with anybody else. I am allowed to slide alone. We are not even sure I will ever be allowed to enter the Village.”
Women’s skeleton official training heats begin on February 7 at the Yangqing National Sliding Centre, and competition starts on February 11. “Obviously this is very hard for me,” Meyleman added. “So, I ask you all to give me some time to consider my next steps, because I’m not sure I can handle 14 more days and the Olympic competition being in this isolation.”
Beijing has imposed strict Covid-19 restrictions as part of its “closed-loop” policy for participants at the Winter Olympics. Rules state athletes who test positive must follow close contact protocols for seven days after posting two negative Covid-19 tests. They can train and compete, and live in the Olympic Village, but need to be in a single room, eat alone, and be transported alone during that time period.
The IOC said Meyleman’s was put in another quarantine hotel “temporarily” because “there was no such room directly available” at the Olympic Village.
“It is a facility which is dedicated to close contacts in order for them to meet all the criteria to continue to train and compete,” the statement read. “When the IOC learned about her personal situation after her arrival in the hotel, it took immediate contact with the NOC [National Organizing Committee] of Belgium to ensure that appropriate support is offered to her swiftly.
“A single room in the Olympic Village will be made available to her as of tomorrow.
The IOC stands ready to support the NOC and the athlete.”
The Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meyleman’s has been freed from an isolation facility in Beijing following a plea for help in a tearful video posted on Instagram. Meyleman’s confirmed that she now felt “safe” at the Olympic village after the Belgian Olympic Committee and the IOC stepped in when they learned she had wrongly been
taken by ambulance to a second government facility and was told she would have to be isolated for 14 more days due to Covid-19 concerns. The Belgian tested positive for the virus upon her arrival in China, which meant she had to enter isolation and return several negative tests before being cleared to move into the Yanqing Olympic village.
She thought that was happening on Wednesday and boarded an ambulance for what she assumed was a ride to the village. “But the ambulance went to another facility,” Meyleman’s said in an Instagram post that quickly captured attention and raised questions about how her mental health was being affected by the saga.
In a video update on Wednesday evening Meyleman’s, 25, added: “At 11.35pm there was a knock on my door, and I was escorted to the Olympic village.” I’m now in a wing that’s just isolated, but at least I’m back in the village.
I feel safe and I’ll be able to train a little better here.
“It seems like the video and the efforts of my Olympic Committee have really paid off.”
Meyleman’s was 14th in her debut Olympics at Pyeongchang in 2018.
But is expected to be more of a contender at the Beijing Games. She has one medal from World Cup races this season, a bronze, and was no worse than sixth in five of the final six races on the circuit this season.
“Relieved to hear that Kim Meyleman’s is now in the Olympic village,” International Olympic Committee Spokesman Christian Klaue tweeted. “We are glad that all the efforts led to the successful resolution of this situation.” Meylemans will now stay in an isolated room and still needs seven days of testing before she can be released from that wing.
However, she should be able to begin practice for the women’s skeleton, which starts next week, before the competition begins on 12 February. Earlier Rob Koehler, the director general of Global Athlete, an organization geared to helping athletes, called Meyleman’s treatment “totally unacceptable”.
“She should never have to endure these conditions,” he added.
SHENZHEN, China, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meyleman’s has made it to one of the Olympic villages after tearfully describing on Instagram her anguish over facing seven days of isolation at another site due to a COVID-19 scare on the way to the Games.
The 25-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 upon her arrival at the Beijing Olympics and was taken to isolate, where she would need several tests before she would be allowed to enter the Olympic Village.
After a negative test she thought she would be allowed to head to Yanqing, she said in the Instagram post, but the ambulance she boarded took her to another facility where she faced seven days of isolation.
“Obviously this is very hard for me so I ask you all to give me some time to consider my next steps because I’m not sure I can handle 14 more days and the Olympic competition while being in this isolation,” said Meyleman’s, who finished 14th in Pyeongchang four years ago.
When Belgian Olympic officials and the International Olympic Committee learned of Meyleman’s situation, they then intervened to help have her moved to a site in the Olympic Village, the IOC said in statement.
In an update posted late on Wednesday, Meyleman’s said she was moved to an isolation wing inside one of the Olympic villages. “It seems like the video and especially also the efforts of my Olympic committee have really paid off,” Meyleman’s said, adding that she now felt safe and will be able to train better.
IOC spokesman Christian Klaue said on Twitter he was relieved Meyleman’s was now in the Village and that he was glad “all the efforts led to the successful resolution of this situation”. Olav Spahl, Belgium’s Head of Mission Beijing 2022, said their priority was getting Meyleman’s to the Village as quickly as possible.
“We understand that COVID measures are necessary to preserve the safety and health of participants in the Olympic Games, but we believe that in this approach, the athlete Just remain central,” said Spahl.
Official training for the women’s skeleton starts next week, ahead of the competition starting on Feb. 12.
Eleven Beijing Olympics-related personnel have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Chinese capital since Jan. 23 out of a total of 232 positive cases, Brian McCloskey, chair of the Beijing 2022 medical expert panel, said on Wednesday. BACK TO THE COMPETITION
BEIJING (Reuters) -Kamila Valieva was only seven years old when she watched her Russian compatriots win gold in the inaugural figure skating team event at the 2014 Sochi Games, dreaming that she would become an Olympic champion one day.
Eight years later, her dream came true. The 15-year-old on Monday became the first woman to land quadruple jumps at the Olympics, helping the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to its second gold medal of the Beijing Games. “When I was three years old, I made a wish to become an Olympic champion,” Valieva said after her free skate at Beijing’s Capital Indoor Stadium.
“My childhood dream has come true.”
Performing to Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero.”
Valieva beautifully executed a quadruple Salchow to open her free skate, then landed a quad toe loop in combination before falling on another attempted quad toe loop. Although she was pleased about her gold medal with the team, Valieva said she still needed to fine-tune her free skate to land her second quad toe loop during the singles event.
Valieva is favorite to win gold in the women’s event, which would continue the line of phenomenal Russian teenage skaters at the Olympics. “The first Olympics I watched were the Sochi Games,” she said. “I remember that I especially liked Yulia Lipnitskaya’s free skate. Then the Olympics were in Korea (Pyeongchang), where I cheered for Evgenia (Medvedeva) and Alina (Zagitova). And now it’s my turn to experience such emotions.”
QUADS FOR THE PODIUM Valieva and teammates Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova are coached by Eteri Tutberidze, known for raising young skaters with an unmatched ability to perform intricate elements. The Russian teen trio’s training regimen is a mystery, but Ithaca College biomechanics expert Deborah King said the young women’s smaller stature could be helping with their jumps.
“Being fairly petite helps,” she said. “Narrow shoulders, hips … so not having matured yet can help because that’s going to help your rotation speed a lot.” She added, however, that a quad jump requires height and a quick rotation, which in turn requires spring and power.
Canadian Kurt Browning landed the first quadruple toe loop in 1988, and the last quad to be conquered was the quadruple loop in 2016, by Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu. “It wouldn’t surprise me if this was an Olympics where all the ladies on the podium did quads, which would be huge,” King said.
So, Beloved Ones, we have arrived in your year of 2021 of the Earth Story. This is a momentous year for you as peoples of Earth, as you initiate the Golden Age of Aquarius and begin to feel the returning energies of the Feminine Christ/Sophia consciousness. The year 2021 is a Bridge out of the old consciousness and into the new. As you put your feet on the bridge to cross over you are still surrounded by the echoes and energies of the past year. So, you will still need to process and release the events and energies of 2020 to some extent. January will be an especially eventful month, with a strong energy of disruption and chaos. By mid-year, you will have reached the middle of the Bridge, and by then you will be ready to begin approaching the end of the bridge and entering the New Reality. By the time of Lions Gate in August, you will begin to perceive the “shape” of your new lives in the New Earth in the Age of Aquarius. So, you will find that in 2021 you will need to be patient and to trust your inner guidance. You will feel in your Heart and Soul what is true for you. You will not find your way in the stories and dramas of 2021…and there will be many to choose from! Rather, Beloved Ones, the way forward will be found within your own Heart, in your own Inner Peace, Tranquility and Creativity. Remember that your purpose on Earth is to create the New Earth and do not let yourself be distracted by other agendas. Know who you are, and why you are here!
The Age of Aquarius: The New 2000-year cycle of the Grand Cycle of 26 000 Years Beloved, there is a “Grand Cycle” of the Earth’s Journey through Time and Space that is called the “Precession of the Equinoxes” and it is an approximately 26,000-year cycle. The Equinoxes are two “marker” days when the day and the night are of equal length on Earth. Every year, at the Spring Equinox, the Sun rises into a specific constellation of the astrological zodiac, the name given to the band of constellations that describe the Earth’s cyclical and circular journey in Time/Space. Currently, the Spring Equinox sun rises into Pisces, but you are now completing that cycle and moving into the Aquarius cycle. Precession runs “backwards” around the zodiac, so that the cycle before the current Age of Pisces was the Age of Aries, and the one to follow will be the Age of Aquarius.
So, the Age of Pisces began roughly 2000 years ago. Its Avatars or Guiding Energies were Yeshua (Jesus) and Mary Magdalene, who came to the Earth as Teachers of the Sacred Union of the Sacred Heart. Their Mission was to prepare Humanity for the next cycle, the Age of Aquarius which was to be a Golden Age of Peace and Harmony that would embody the “Christ Consciousness” within the Greater Cycle. The purpose of this “Grand Cycle” is to anchor the Light Codes of the Divine Creative Intelligence on the Earth, as within the Galaxy. The Grand Cycle began when the Spring Equinox Sun was in Leo, which was called “Zep Tepi” or the “First Time” or the Beginning, by the Ancient Egyptians who learnt their Star Wisdom from the Sirian Star Teachers. It’s the reason why the Sphinx at Giza gazes into what would have been the constellation of Leo at the “Zep Tepi”, when the Royal Lions initiated the cycle of Creation together with the Elohim. So now, Beloved Masters, you are halfway across the Bridge of the Equinoxes too, your faces towards the new Age of Aquarius that is coming!
The Avatars of the Aquarian Age: Yeshua (Jesus) and Mary Magdalene At the beginning of the Age of Pisces, the Elohim sent two Avatars or Ascended Masters to anchor the energies that would take Humanity from the violence of the Age of Aries into the more spiritual Age of Pisces. Pisces, which is ruled by Neptune, is energized by high spiritual ideals, and Yeshua and Mary Magdalene were to embody these ideals that would be needed for the Shift of the Ages when the Age of Pisces would become the Age of Aquarius. Unfortunately, the shadow side of Neptunian energy is manipulation and lying, and so the true story of Yeshua and Mary was hidden and distorted in the manipulation of those, in several dimensions, who sought to control the Earth and its path. Yeshua and Mary came to Earth as Divine Twin Avatars, to hold the essence of the evolving Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine, both within themselves and as a Divine partnership. When Yeshua left the Earth, Mary went to France, and continued with her mission of grounding the “pure” Divine Energy and preparing for the Age of Aquarius that would come. Humanity needed to be prepared. Unfortunately, the energy of manipulation and control took over the first seeds planted in the Middle East, and the “Christian” church began to suppress and control people through fear. The true line continued in Europe through the teachings of Mary Magdalene, the “Lady”, who established that the true “Christ Consciousness” was Love, Compassion, Kindness and Freedom, practiced in loving and supportive communities of high frequency Master Beings, the “Pure Ones” or “Cathars”. However, the followers of the Lady were wiped out by the Roman Church in the Albigensian Crusade of the 12th Century, and the true Avatar teachings were lost or suppressed. But, Beloveds, not forever! There was a beautiful prophecy given that at this time, right now, the “Pure Ones” would return, to lead Earth into the Golden Age and to recover the teachings of the Feminine Christ Consciousness.
The Wisdom of the Feminine Christ/Sophia So, you may ask, what is it that needs to return that was lost to us?
What is the Feminine Christ/Sophia? Beloved, this is the deep and loving energy of non-judgment and compassion. Both for others, and for yourself. As Yeshua said to his followers, as he drew on his Feminine Christ wisdom: “You must love your Neighbour as yourself.” This means you must first love yourself and know how to love yourself, before you can love others. But, as you look deeper, you find the teachings of the Lady, Mary Magdalene, written within your Sacred Heart. This is the place of Balance, Harmony, Beauty, Serenity and Peace. It is the soaring heights of the Galactic Journey and the deep depths of the Inner Realms. Beloveds, as you align with her wisdom, you will both soar high and dive deep. One of the titles given to the Divine Feminine Avatars is “Stella Maris” or “Star of the Sea” (Ste Marie). The Stella Maris is the Bright Star that guides you on your journey through the Cosmic Ocean. Follow the Inner Cosmic Light, the Inner Divine Feminine, to navigate your journey through Time and Space. “She”, the Stella Maris, the Guiding Light, lives within each one of you and seeks to be awakened NOW!
Blessings and Love to All.
If you would like to learn more about the Aquarius Gate and these incoming energies, please join us for our online webinar series ” The Age of Aquarius webinars. You will join together with our Diamond Light Community for information, support and activations with Celia Fenn and Archangel Michael and other Beings of light. 2/2 The Age of Aquarius Webinars | Starchild Global with Celia Fenn
FROM FEAR TO FREEDOM – VENUS AS THE GOLDEN KEY TO THE AGE OF AQUARIUS Jan 02, 2022
“The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear. “ ~ Aung San Suu Kyi
Calum Scott, Leona Lewis – You Are the Reason (Duet Version) The promise of the Age of Aquarius is for humans of heart to re-dream the world through realizing our inherent power, genius, and sovereignty. We have the ability to create a culture based on care, interconnection and reverence for nature while protecting our most vulnerable members. All of these qualities connect to Venus.
We are now creating the template for our human experience for the next 2100 years. When we hold the future generations in our hearts, what kind of world do we want to create? Venus teaches that when we embody love, we can dream of a positive future beyond our imagination.
To align with the high vibe version of the Age of Aquarius, a transformation of the dominator consciousness is required. We are rewriting the ancient stories of what it means to be a human being living on this planet. The courage of our hearts can light the way.
Dominator consciousness works through creating fear and lack and preying upon us most fundamental need for connection, nurturing relationships, and a sense of belonging (all Venus themes.) In 2022, more of the collective will assist in transmuting these patterns.
Do you remember last December Solstice when we crossed an energetic bridge deeper? into the Age of Aquarius with the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn at 0 Aquarius? These two “social” planets come together every twenty years and represent knowing our life purpose and bringing our gifts to the world, including financial success. We have completed the first year of discovering our unique offering for this new age.
Women bringing their gifts to the world and men attuning to their feeling nature are a huge aspect of healing from a culture that devalues the feminine principle.
The heroine’s journey of Venus supports us in this quest to know and live from our sacred purpose. A new journey is imminent.
This December Solstice we celebrated amidst the intensity of the last ripples of a solar eclipse, the tension of the build-up of the final Saturn-Uranus square on December 23rd, and the intensity of Venus meeting up with Pluto, the Great Transformer on the 25th. The purification of fear and control is still amped up to prepare us to embody more of our power in 2022.
Today, the Moon meets the Sun in Capricorn for our first New Moon. Tomorrow, on January 3rd, Venus meets the Moon in Capricorn for our first New Venus Portal of 2022.
This is their last visible meeting in the Evening Sky. We are in the final days of Venus as Evening Star and, if you are lucky, you may be able to catch the celestial bodies representing the lunar and solar feminine in the west at sunset tonight or tomorrow.
Venus will unite with the Sun in Capricorn on January 8th, invisible to us, and plant the seeds of our next 19-month cycle of heart initiation. Her cycle guides us through another heroine’s journey to quest for more aliveness, truth and power. This entire cycle will be infused with the energy of Capricorn and themes of feminine empowerment.
The sign of Capricorn and the planet Saturn have come to represent the shadow aspects of scarcity, fear and control and the dynamic of “power over” that rules through the use of force.
Capricorn is initiating, feminine earth energy of social responsibility and leadership, so it’s quite a reversal that this sign is associated with patriarchy.
The energy of Venus in Capricorn will seed the next 19-months and inspire us to remember the positive manifestation of Capricorn consciousness.
We will all be called into greater maturity and to live from our deeper, embodied wisdom, as opposed to dissociating into virtual reality.
It’s time to take full responsibility for our lives and the ways we are still feeding the dominator culture and the dying paradigm. It’s time to remember the art of conservation that our ancestors knew and to become more self-sufficient locally in connection with our chosen community.
How we navigate the heightened fear that accompanies this level of change matters more than ever. When we anchor in our heart wisdom, we find the strength to move through these times powerfully.
For as long as I can remember I have always connected and resonated with Mary Magdalene. My mother has a huge bible with beautiful gold encrusted pictures of many of the biblical characters. I sat for hours and read and gazed at the beautiful pictures depicted of each saint. My connection to Jesus was a very strong one as well and would prove even stronger as I had my adult spiritual encounter at 20 with invoking the name of Jesus. I am not surprised that both Jesus and Mary Magdalene served as my direct representation of the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine and have proved to be my strongest guides in this lifetime…. But this blog is not about Jesus ~ It is about the mysterious life of Mary of Magdalene and how she has unfolded to me in a very personal way. To really understand who Mary is… I ask you to open your mind and allow information to flow to you. I understand that many of you who will read this have preconceived notions and also family of origin teachings and also religious teachings handed down to you which you hang on to. It is quite alright if you do… I have had to do a lot of sitting with information that I was taught and become open and ask myself…. Is this a belief I was taught and does this resonate with me? I have come to many a new understanding and belief in allowing myself to be open and see what resonates with me and sits well within my being.
With this being said. I have come to understand that I am part of the lineage of Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was Mary of Magdala (her hometown, a village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee) She is also confused and lumped into several of the biblical stories of Mary, such as Mary the sister of Martha and the brother of Lazarus. I don’t believe that all of these so-called biblical “Marys” all speak of Mary Magdalene. We must understand biblical text and its secret symbolic meanings and not in literal sense, with this being said let us journey forward.
Let us explore Goddess Worship and the understanding of the Goddess during these times. The Divine Mother and her Consort/Savior Son is a strong theme in World Goddess Myth, making Virgin Mary/Mary Magdalene a likely composite. The title of Virgin was often bestowed upon sexually active Goddesses. Sacred Temple Priestesses were often called Virgins. In addition, children of The Sacred Marriage, a ritual union of a temple priestess and a king willing to die for his people, were often called “virgin born” or “divine children,” just as Christ was, it is also possible that Mother Mary was dedicated to a Goddess temple when she was a child. Perhaps Mother Mary was a temple priestess, thus making Jesus (or Yeshua) a divine child. There is even stronger evidence that Mary Magdalene was a temple priestess, so perhaps this is the true connection between Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. This divine marriage rite practiced was called the Hieros Gamos and as you can see here it is representative of the alchemic elements and signifies the Star of David. Four pieces of Gospel evidence strongly point to Mary Magdalene as a temple priestess of the Goddess. The first is her title “Magdalene,” almost identical to “Magdala,” noted earlier to be the name of the triple-towered temple of the Goddess Mari-Anna-Ishtar. Literally, “Mary of the Magdala” signifies “Mary of the Goddess Temple.” Christian tradition has said that Mary is of the town “Magdala” or “Migdal,” which was known as “The Village of Doves,” a place where sacred doves were bred for the Goddess temple. In either case, two threads of strong symbolism link the name Magdalene to contemporary Goddess worship.
Yesterday I facilitated a Goddess Rite of Passage celebrating our womb opening and our Moon. It is a sacred ceremony allowing us to see that we are connected to Cosmic Creation and of course Mother Earth. We learned that our creation power and menstrual flow have powerful and medicinal medicine and healing power. We took vows in this sacred work to honor and heal the earth and to celebrate and honor our bodies and celebrate our empowerment as Divine Goddess and to empower other Goddesses and teach them and also to assist in the healing of the Divine Masculine and help them to fill their role as protectors and guardians of the womb and the goddess. This is the work of the Divine Priestess ~ Such as the work of Mary Magdalene. I am so honored and blessed to be a Priestess and a teacher and a keeper of the Holy Grail and the sacred teachings of the Goddess. This is the work of a Holy Priestess. The Divine work of Mary Magdalene.
The Divine work of the Goddess. As we exited the age of Pisces, which was the age of the unhealthy male, The age of unhealthy Patriarchal rule. We now entered into the age of Aquarius, which is represented by the woman holding the cisterns of water. This is the age of washing… washing away the unhealthy and bringing new water and cleansing to the unhealthy energies to bring balance. It is the age of the Goddess, a time for The Matriarchal. It is a time for us to bring back the age of balance. Women restore and create so it is no wonder why this time has come. The time has come not for women to hurt and dominate and discourage men… The time has come for women to love and empower and encourage men to make the journey for balance. The men and women come together in balance. A balance of the Masculine and Feminine Divine within. What an exciting time to be living! Mary Magdalene is a Divine Master, pertaining to the Priestess initiations into the sacred teachings of the Goddess. Her diverse heritage and true spiritual purpose is what makes Mary Magdalene so unique. A temple priestess who bestowed the power of the Goddess on those she initiated, Mary was also an apostle and consort of Jesus, and the Judean mission in the heart of the land where the Jerusalem Temple lay. It was through Mary’s role as temple priestess that the most secret and sacred teachings of the Goddess were finally grasped.
Mary Magdalene works with the grid changes of the Earth that support our etheric reconnection to Lemuria and Atlantis. In doing this she supports the Earth and the rapid ascension process of our corresponding body and consciousness back into the 5th dimension. Her other main endeavor is to support the healing process currently occurring the East, specifically working to ease the pain arising from conflict issues within and between the Middle East and the West. In this unique template, the following symbols provide significant information in fully understanding the role of Mary Magdalene:
The Crystal Skull – holds the sacred key to the mysteries of St John and the Lemurian teachings of alchemy and etheric healing. The Cave – symbolism going into the Earth or womb of the Goddess, as well as retreating into oneself, seeking a place of introversion. The Candle – represents Mary Magdalene as holding the Light for others. The darkness of her skin – reflects her ethnic and spiritual background as well as personification of the Black Madonna. The Snake and Chalice – represent the sacred practices and teachings of the kundalini and also its alchemical healing and enlightenment powers, bestowed within the body and consciousness to enable one to evolve, awaken, ascend and embody the cosmic or celestial Lightbody system, the Christ Body.
The Master Symbol – located on Mary Magdalene’s 3rd eye consists of the ancient cross, the crescent moon and the cosmic symbol of Venus. These symbols represent a sacred lineage of priestess teachings that bestow the Goddess powers of the Feminine Principles into the consciousness of one’s faith. It symbolizes the ‘way’ of the Magdalene.
Sacred Symbol of Activation of the sacred lineage. I hope you enjoyed your time here reading and celebrating this sacred time of clarity and understanding. If this information resonates with you perhaps you would love to come and be a part of our Goddess Community and take part in some of our Goddess Workshops. I look forward to connecting with you ❤
Why I cried when I found out I had Covid (Opinion) Opinion by Meg Jacobs
As soon as I got the call last week, I cried.
I was not worried about myself. I was worried about my four kids. Not for caretaking, I have a very competent husband, and the kids are all either old enough to vote or close to it. No, I panicked because my Covid-19 diagnosis triggered the memory of when I got my cancer diagnosis. I learned that information over the phone, too.
A routine mammogram at the age of 49 led to the discovery of a mass and a needle biopsy. For four days, I waited on the results. Finally, just as I was about to leave home to take my father-in-law to a doctor’s appointment, I saw the radiologist’s number pop up on my phone.
We had a short, efficient conversation. He gave me the name and number of a breast surgeon and told me not to wait too long. “So, if someone asks if I have cancer, the answer is yes,” I said. “Correct,” he responded. I hung up, took my in-law to the appointment and waited until I returned home before I called my husband to tell him the news.
All along, my single thought was: What will this do to my family?
Over the next few weeks, I was worried about my health. After all of the initial reassurances about catching the mass early and removing it with a successful surgery, clear margins and nothing in the lymph nodes, I got back the results from my genomic testing. Those results basically told me that my tumor, despite all of the promising initial signs, had an elevated risk of recurrence. My first doctor put chemotherapy on the table; several weeks and tests later, my second doctor took it off.
However, the six-week daily routine of going to the hospital, stripping down, climbing on the table and getting zapped with radiation began to wear on me. The horrible burn that comes with the treatment stinks, too — way worse than the sunburn that every kid got in the 1970s. And I’ll forever have the dozen or so tiny tattoos that told the technicians the radiation beams were hitting me in the right place.
Having a cancer diagnosis and receiving treatment was, of course, hard. But what was harder was thinking about what my cancer would mean for my kids. They were younger then. My two little ones were just starting high school, and the next oldest was a junior. My oldest was weeks away from applying to college. My only meltdown — publicly, at least — over confronting the big “C” happened when she and I were college touring and had to fly back home separately because the airline had overbooked the flight from Chicago’s O’Hare back to New York’s LaGuardia. In a vain attempt to persuade the ticket agent to let me travel with my daughter, I yelled, “I have cancer!” (It didn’t work.)
I’m not sure what I thought my diagnosis would do to my kids.
Distract them from their schoolwork?
Leave them motherless at mealtimes?
Or maybe leave them motherless forever?
I certainly know what that kind of loss is like. My father died from a massive heart attack when he was 47, and I was 12. He was playing his weekly Sunday tennis game with my mother when he collapsed. She tried to do CPR, but he was dead before the ambulance arrived. One day he was here, the next he wasn’t. I wrote a note on a piece of yellow legal paper and stuck it in his inside suit pocket as he lay in the coffin.
He was leaving, and I wanted him to take something from me with him.
As painful as my heartache was (and is) for my father, I had survived his loss.
So, why was I so scared that my kids might not survive if I wasn’t around?
The answer: I was worried I couldn’t protect my kids from fears and heartaches of their own. It turns out they knew a lot, even more than me, thanks to endless streaming of “Jane the Virgin.”
When there was a chance I needed chemo, they knew all about the cold cap.
My children are strong and self-possessed — three beautiful, very on-top-of-it girls and one sweet, sweet boy. They’ve been through divorce and remarriage and the blending of two families into one. And yet I didn’t want to scare them or make them worry about more than who they have a crush on or what outfit they should choose for the next day.
I wanted to protect them, not cause them grief. But life just doesn’t work that way.
Try as hard as you might, you cannot protect your kids from everything.
Now, I’m three years past my diagnosis and treatment. I go for all my scans and tests. I take my medication. So far, so good. But, in 2020, along came Covid-19. For almost two years, we’ve all worked to protect our children and keep them safe from this strange, strange illness. M y family left New York City on March 16, 2020, right as it became a hot spot for the pandemic. For a few days, we wore bandannas we got from the local Five & Dime in our temporary town, for a few weeks we washed fruit and groceries (I still do).
We quickly learned more, we socially distanced, we wore masks, we stayed away for nine months, and we did online school. We all hunkered down together. They were safe. I protected them. We made it work, eventually seeing some friends outside, moving back home and gladly supporting the kids’ return to school. We got our vaccines and our boosters. And then I got Covid-19 — exactly what my family had feared. My husband and I went to our friends’ apartment for dinner where everyone was triply vaccinated. It was our first or second dinner in years in someone else’s home, drinking wine, talking politics, and lingering. We all felt so good to be back together.
Five days later, just after I left the hospital for a biannual breast exam, I got the news that my friends had tested positive. My heart sank. Four days later, I tested positive, too. When I got the call with my Covid-19 results, it felt like getting diagnosed with cancer all over again. I knew it wasn’t the same, of course. But I feared that getting sick would cause my family grief. We are so lucky that my Covid-19 symptoms were not severe — I felt like I had a mild cold, a few sniffles, a cough or two.
The worst part was being separated from my family. I was so looking forward to my older two girls coming home from college over the holiday break. But, instead, we are apart. My husband, who somehow escaped the dinner party pathogens, took all four kids and left the city — again. They made a new family group chat, and I wasn’t in it. My “Covid-cation” is the first time I’ve been alone in two years. Since the pandemic started, we have had constant togetherness.
When the world is falling apart, all you want to do is protect your kids. Because that’s what parents do. They don’t let the danger through the front door — if they can help it. Now it looks like the worst and the best is upon us. It seems pretty likely that my kids will contract Covid-19, if not from me, then from someone else, but unlikely that it will be severe. And they are seeing that I’m OK. Thanks to science, we really can cure illness.
So, maybe, in some convoluted, exhausting, frustrating, terrifying and horrible way, the lesson is: we will survive. We cannot protect our kids from everything. That is always true, and we’ve all had a master class on that in the last two Covid-filled years.
But maybe we — I — need to realize that — that is OK. I’ve survived the big “C” twice. Cancer and Covid-19. And my kids are OK. Meg Jacobs teaches history at Princeton University. Follow Meg Jacobs on: Twitter @MegJacobs100. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. Read more opinions on CNN.
Who should get a COVID test, how often and what type?
Here’s what public health experts say. Testing has become an integral part of a layered approach to keeping individuals and communities safe, in addition to vaccinations, boosters, masks and adequate ventilation. So, who needs a PCR or rapid test?
Public health experts have answers. Tests are most critical for those who have been exposed to COVID-19 because they live, work or have gathered with someone who is positive. It’s also critical for people to be tested if they have symptoms, which include fever, cough, difficulty breathing or loss of smell, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
PCR tests typically conducted at a testing site and processed in a lab are the best at detecting COVID-19, with results in a day or two. At-home rapid tests that come in a box from a store or public distribution site are more convenient and can detect the latest omicron variant. They are, however, considered a little less reliable, especially in people with no symptoms, said Matthew Frieman, a longtime coronavirus researcher and professor in the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s department of microbiology and immunology.
Public health experts suggest people exposed or with symptoms using a rapid test should use one swab test and then another a few days later if the first result is negative. (There are typically two tests in the at-home test kits.) That gives the virus enough time to spread in the body and be detected. People should stay home or wear masks while they await results.
Healthy people who work in person might want to have regular PCR or rapid tests performed. Those visiting assisted living facilities and other places where people are at high risk due to age or medical condition often are required to be tested within a day or two of visiting. Public health officials say it still may be a good idea even if it’s not required or when seeing grandparents or other vulnerable individuals at home. Older people often have trouble gaining or sustaining immune system defenses.
Dr. Jinlene Chan, Maryland’s deputy health secretary for public health services, adds that people should be tested before and after travel. And she said children should be tested so they can return to school safely after the holidays and so they can stay in the classroom when others test positive for the virus. Many schools are participating in a state schools testing program for that.
Those who want to go to an event or holiday gathering might use a rapid test the day before, Frieman said. That way there is time to get a PCR test to confirm a positive result.
Frieman said all this assumes tests are available, which for now, they may not be. If there are no tests, people with symptoms should avoid gatherings and healthy people should rely on all the other layers of protection.
Look at those Evil Eyes — AOC: Facebook ‘sabotaged’ the global COVID response with disinformation. By Max Zahn with Andy Serwer
Finance Progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told Yahoo. In an exclusive interview, Facebook (FB) and other U.S. companies have “sabotaged” the global response to COVID-19 by spreading disinformation about the virus. The tech giant, which recently changed its name to Meta, should “be broken up” because it exploits its overlapping lines of business as a platform, vendor, and advertiser, Ocasio-Cortez added in the wide-ranging remarks.
“There are some things that the United States provides that are welcome,” she says. “There are also things that we want the United States to stop exporting and one of those things is disinformation — disinformation through U.S.-founded companies like Facebook that have absolutely slowed and frankly sabotaged the global effort to fight against the coronavirus,” she adds. The comments from Ocasio-Cortez, who spoke to Yahoo Finance’s editor-in-chief, Andy Serwer, on Jan. 27, came nearly a month after Facebook suspended House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for 24 hours for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
Facebook imposed the suspension a day after Twitter banned Greene permanently.
Facebook has drawn criticism throughout the pandemic for what some perceive as an inadequate effort to prevent the spread of false information about the virus. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Joe Biden set off a public back-and-forth with Facebook last July when he asserted that social media platforms are “killing people” through the spread of vaccine misinformation.
In response, Facebook VP Guy Rosen refuted the accusation, arguing in a blog post that vaccine acceptance among Facebook users had increased since the previous January and advocating instead for a “whole of society” approach to ending the pandemic. In later comments on the subject, Biden softened his criticism by directing his ire toward the top influencers who spread vaccine misinformation on social media, rather than the platforms themselves.
But documents later disclosed by whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed: The company had gathered deep information about the spread of coronavirus misinformation on its platform, which the company did not share publicly, the Washington Post reported in October. Facebook spokesperson Aaron Simpson provided this statement to the Post: “There’s no silver bullet to fighting misinformation, which is why we take a comprehensive approach which includes removing more than 20 million pieces of content that break our covid misinformation policies … connecting more than 2 billion people to reliable information about covid-19 and vaccines and partnering with independent fact-checkers.
“Only 12 people are responsible for up to 73% of anti-vaccine misinformation on Facebook, according to a report released in March 2021 by advocacy group Center for Countering Digital Hate. Joseph Mercola, a top anti-vaccine influencer with 1.7 million followers on the platform, frequently posts messages skeptical of vaccines and uses his Facebook page to promote his anti-vaccine book “The Truth About COVID-19.”
The CCDH report on the Disinformation Dozen shows that these 12 people, collectively have 59 million followers, are responsible for 73% of the anti-vax content on Facebook and 65% of anti-vaccine messages on other major platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. This in turn means that if the social media platforms will simply shut down their accounts (and other sites that they control, such as the misleadingly named Children’s Health Defense and National Vaccine Information Center), we will see a dramatic reduction in false vaccine information, virtually overnight.
So, who are the Disinformation Dozen? Here they are: Joseph Mercola Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Ty and Charlene Bollinger Sherri Tenpenny Rizza Islam Rashid Buttar Erin Elizabeth Sayer Ji Kelly Brogan Christiane Northrup Ben Tapper Kevin Jenkins Read the original post
“Ocasio-Cortez rose to prominence in June 2018 with a surprise upset of incumbent Rep. Joseph Crowley, then the No. 4 Democrat in the House and a potential successor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. When she took office the following year at the age of 29, she became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress. She has amassed nearly 13 million Twitter followers, giving her one of the largest online platforms of a U.S. elected official. Speaking to Yahoo Finance, Ocasio-Cortez reiterated her longstanding call for antitrust action against Facebook.
Last month, a judge rejected Facebook’s request to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission that claims the company is operating a monopoly in the social media sector. “Facebook should be broken up,” Ocasio-Cortez says.
“They’re an advertiser. They are acting as both platform and vendor.
They are a communication platform, which has historically been a well-established domain of antitrust.” “Because there are so many businesses and industries in one,” she adds. “The case [is] right there in and of itself as to why they should be subject to antitrust activity.”
My passion in life is communication in all its many forms. I enjoy nothing more than deep chats about life, love and the Universe. With a master’s degree in Journalism, I’m a former BBC news reporter and newsreader. But around 8 years ago I swapped the studio for a life on the open road. Lisbon, Portugal is currently where I call home. My personal development articles have featured in Huffington Post, Elite Daily, Thought Catalog, Thrive Global and more. Written by Louise Jackson
1) Playing the victim A loser may feel like life is against them. They can’t seem to catch a break. Bad things happen to them, and they are always at the mercy of life. Of course, some people really have been dealt a far worse hand than others. Yet, there are plenty of people who still manage to create success and happiness out of the worst conditions. Winners take full responsibility for themselves, rather than always seeing everything as somebody else’s fault. Losers are unable to see that a victim mentality is the very attitude that keeps them stuck. If we give other people power over our lives or feel dependent on how they behave to make us happy — it’s never going to end well. Getting lost in self-pity, martyrdom, and telling yourself “Woe is me” delays you from getting around to the important work of improving your life. And at the end of the day, nobody else is going to do it for you.
2) Giving up all the time No matter how much positive thinking you practice, let’s face it, life is hard sometimes. But when faced with challenges we only ever really have two choices. We can either accept, deal with and move on from what has floored us or we quit and become defeated by it. Of course, we’ve all felt pretty defeated by life at some point but winners eventually pick themselves up and start looking for solutions. For example, if you feel like you don’t have any real friends — that certainly doesn’t make you a loser (it’s actually really common). But resigning yourself to a fate of loneliness when you want to make better connections does. Losers convince themselves that nothing will ever change, so they give up on what matters most to them before they’ve even tried. As the powerful Japanese proverb goes, “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” Successful people understand that failing and falling are only a part of their journey. They have cultivated enough resilience so that they refuse to give up hope — which strengthens them to keep on striving. One of the biggest reasons that people become losers, is that they give up and lose their personal power.
Begin with yourself. Stop searching for external fixes to sort out your life, deep down, you know this isn’t working! And that’s because until you look within and unleash your personal power, you’ll never find the satisfaction and fulfillment you’re searching for. I learned this from the shaman Rudá Iandê. His life mission is to help people restore balance to their lives and unlock their creativity and potential. He has an incredible approach that combines ancient shamanic techniques with a modern-day twist. In his excellent free video, Rudá explains effective methods to achieve what you want in life and to stop being a loser.
So, if you want to build a better relationship with yourself, unlock your endless potential, and put passion at the heart of everything you do, start now by checking out his genuine advice. Here’s a link to the free video again.
3) Constant negativity Last year, I tried to go a whole week without complaining and it was tough. I think we don’t even spot how much negativity falls out of our mouths on a daily basis. Whilst having a bit of a moan can feel habitual at times, constant complaining is not only bad for your health but even rewires your brain. For some people, negativity is so deeply ingrained that it puts a dark cloud over everything they do. You know, those people who never have a good word to say. I call them “negaholics” because negativity and complaining are almost an addiction. Losers manage to completely miss the bright side and promptly arrive at why everything and everyone sucks. It’s an exhaustingly heavy energy to be around and that excessive complaining just makes life worse.
4) Being totally self-absorbed An inability to give a damn about anybody but yourself leads to a very shallow existence. Even if you’ve climbed “to the top” by stepping on countless others along the way, it doesn’t matter what material gains you make, you’re still a loser where it counts. Sometimes egocentric qualities can even seem to be traits that drive success in some people, but I guess it depends on your definition of “success”. A feeling of contributing and caring for others has been shown to be important for our happiness. Tom Rath in his book ‘It’s Not About You: A Brief Guide to a Meaningful Life’ put it this way: “Your life has an unknown expiration date. Your efforts and contributions to others do not. The time, energy and resources you invest in people you care for and your community keep growing forever.”
5) Arrogance We’re always told how a healthy self-esteem is so important, so when does that cross over into arrogance? Being unpleasantly proud or feeling like you’re better than everybody else might look like a mask of confidence from the outside, but I suspect it’s actually anything but. Whenever I’ve looked down on people, it has served a purpose of helping to inflate my own ego and make them wrong and me right — so ultimately boiled down to a sign of my own insecurity. Real winners in life don’t need to be cocky or full of themselves because they don’t have anything to prove. Their sense of self or success comes from within and doesn’t feel threatened by others, which allows them to be humble.
6) Zero self-awareness I mentioned in the intro that most people who have ever questioned if they are a bit of a loser, probably aren’t. That’s because even just the self-awareness to look for negative qualities or circumstances in our own life suggests a level of sensitivity. The chances are that it doesn’t even dawn on real losers that there is anything wrong with them. They have an inability to analyze themselves with any degree of objectivity or perspective. If you are able to contemplate yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don’t align with your internal standards — this really is 90% of the battle when it comes to change. We can’t ever make positive changes until we can see a problem. Having zero self-awareness is an invisible prison that keeps you stuck where you are.
7) Narrow mindedness and an unwillingness to listen to others I’m right, you are wrong, and I don’t want to hear it. Losers seem to know it all and will fight to “defend” their perspective. Differences of opinions are natural; the world is full of points of view. The “truth” is actually a lot harder to define in many situations than we might expect. But losers are unprepared to even consider someone else’s side of things, preferring to vilify or blame them. The older I’ve got the more I’ve realized how very little I actually know, but I see this as progress. I used to have such a long list of “rights and wrongs” that only gave me tunnel vision. I’m sure that striving to try and understand other people and learn from their experiences will be a lifelong journey for me — but one worth taking. A lack of tolerance for others or an inability to listen can be destructive to not just our own lives, but everyone around us as well as the societies we belong to.
8) Extreme vanity There’s loving yourself, and then there’s LOVING yourself. I’m not talking about wanting to look nice on a night out or letting loved ones know your fantastic exam results — which falls under healthy self-esteem. But the irony is that excessive pride or admiration for how you look or what you achieve is actually quite ugly and may even spill over into narcissism.
According to Psychological and Brain Sciences professor Susan Krauss Whitbourne, it’s also most likely a sign of some deep-rooted insecurity: “People who are constantly bragging about their great lifestyle, their elite education, or their fantastic children may very well be doing so to convince themselves that they really do have worth.” The more you feel the need to big yourself up, the chances are the more of a loser you feel deep down. When we feel good about ourselves, we don’t usually feel the need to prove anything to anyone else.
9) Bitching about peoplebehind their back I read that gossiping serves some kind of social function. Research has suggested it can stave off loneliness, facilitate bonding and act as a form of entertainment. I wonder if there’s anyone who could proudly raise their hand and say that they have never participated in gossip. I certainly couldn’t. But any purpose it has, there’s also clearly a much darker side to it. Unkindness, meanness, or even cruelty towards other people, whether that is to their face or behind their back is pretty much just bullying. Nobody is perfect and I’m sure most of us have hurt someone we care about with our words, but only losers actually feel good about tearing other people down. But I get it, letting those feelings out can be hard, especially if you’ve spent so long trying to stay in control of them. If that’s the case, I highly recommend watching this free breathwork video, created by the shaman, Rudá Iandê.
Rudá isn’t another self-professed life coach. Through shamanism and his own life journey, he’s created a modern-day twist to ancient healing techniques. The exercises in his invigorating video combine years of breathwork experience and ancient shamanic beliefs, designed to help you relax and check in with your body and soul. After many years of suppressing my emotions, Rudá’s dynamic breathwork flow quite literally revived that connection.
And that’s what you need: A spark to reconnect you with your feelings so that you can begin focusing on the most important relationship of all – the one you have with yourself. So if you’re ready to take back control over your mind, body, and soul, if you’re ready to say goodbye to anxiety and stress, check out his genuine advice below. Here’s a link to the free video again. 10) Absence of integrity A loser’s moral compass is flexible depending on what suits them best at the time. They may be easily prepared to forsake their values or the people and things they believe in. If you’re prepared to lie, cheat and sacrifice whatever you once held dear in order to “succeed”, then no matter what you gain, in many people’s eyes, you’ll still be the biggest loser they know.
11) Disrespecting yourself and others. Disrespect might be being rude, angry, or generally emotionally unaware when you’re speaking to others — but it equally applies to how you treat yourself too. If you don’t believe in or respect yourself, you’re going to find you always seem to end up on the losing side of life. Without setting healthy boundaries, it’s easier for other people to manipulate or take advantage of you. Without a strong sense of self-worth, it’s difficult to find the courage to go after what you want in life and believe it is possible for you or that you deserve it. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy and our own behavior is the most disrespectful that we tolerate — whether it is through destructive habits or unkind self-talk.
12) A total lack of any purpose Before writing this article, I was doing some research to see what qualities people thought were signs of being a loser. I noticed that quite a few viewed a lack of ambition or absence of goals as loser behavior. But I’m not so convinced. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a beautiful thing when someone feels passionate, inspired, and motivated to achieve anything. I love the dreamers and doers who have big ideas and plans. If you have them, then great, go after them. But I think that many of us also feel pressured to accomplish things in life, in order to feel good enough. Like we always should be working towards something momentous.
Does that make you a loser? I really don’t think it does. I think the real problem arises when we can’t find meaning from anything in our life. That is often when we feel lost, stuck or apathetic. Experts tend to agree that seeking meaningfulness in life is even more important than happiness. But I wonder if the trick is actually to discover meaning in everything we do and find purpose in the smallest of things. That way we see everyday life as the miracle that it actually is.
In a way, maybe finding purpose is an exercise in mindfulness rather than in acquisition. In the words of spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle: “Doing is never enough if you neglect Being. The ego knows nothing of being but believes you will eventually be saved by doing. If you are in the grip of the ego, you believe that by doing more and more you will eventually accumulate enough ‘doings’ to make yourself feel complete at some point in the future. You won’t. You will only lose yourself in doing. The entire civilization is losing itself in doing that is not rooted in Being and thus becomes futile.”
13) Being entitled and spoiled Spoiled people are losers because they will never be satisfied. Feeling a sense of expectation from others around you or society, in general, is a quick route to disappointment. If you are unable to feel grateful for what you have, it doesn’t matter how much you get out of life, you’ll always feel frustrated and lacking. The incredible thing about gratitude is that it actually makes you happier.
Is it ok to be a loser? I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly no saint, and I know I’ve been guilty of (And am still working on) some of these loser traits on the list.
Hey, we’re all only human and life is one giant classroom. Maybe it’s ok to be a bit of a loser from time to time — it’s actually how we learn and grow. It’s only not ok to be a loser if you know that you are guilty of some pretty shitty behaviour but make no attempts to do anything about it. None of us are born winners or losers. It’s how we choose to respond to what happens in life and make the decision to change. I guess the good news then is that we actually have full control over whether we end up being a loser or not. What makes a person a loser? Losers are created when they become overly negative and have nothing positive in their life. This mindset is created through a lack of gratitude and appreciation for what they do have. Selfishness becomes the dominant way of living and everyone else is the problem in their eyes.
Why do I see myself as a loser? There are a million reasons one might convince themselves of being a loser. Lack of financial knowledge, or lack of money period. Feeling pressured to adhere to societal timelines. A perceived failure or lack of success.
How do you know you’re a loser?
8 Habits That Can Make a Person Become a Loser Being jealous and vilifying others. Loving free or cheap stuff. Rejecting other people’s opinions. Procrastinating. Not knowing how to communicate with other people. Giving up on our goals and principles. Not believing in ourselves. Comparing ourselves to others.
How do you stop thinking I’M A Loser? You can make a choice to stop thinking about being a loser or endlessly thinking about yourself. It’s in your power. Give yourself something to focus on besides yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others. Stop trying to live up to everyone else’s standards. Stop complaining, stop talking about your problems or shortcom.
How do I stop being pathetic? The best way to stop being pathetic or worrying entirely about you is to focus your energy in helping someone else. It will give you something else to focus on and give you something else to talk about with others. Try doing some volunteer work.
What is a loser mentality? The loser mentality is that things need to be done every single way that you want them done, because if they’re not done that way, well, then you lose control. What does it mean if a girl calls you a loser? When women say you’re a loser, they don’t mean for it to be entertainment or funny. They mean that what you’re doing is so unattractive that you don’t stand a chance with them. That what you’re doing is repulsive. It has nothing to do with your looks, race, looks, etc.
What’s worse than being a loser? The only thing worse than being a loser is being a spectator. Sure, the spoils only go to the victor. But the spectator never even gave themselves a chance.
Is Loser an insult? You may have heard losers used to insult someone who has not had a lot of success in life, someone who might not have many friends.
What is the meaning of ne’er do well? : an idle worthless person.
What is the definition of nobody? : no person: not anybody. nobody. noun. plural nobodies.
What is the meaning of I am nobody? 1 pron Nobody means not a single person, or not a single member of a particular group or set. 2 n-count If someone says that a person is a nobody, they are saying in an unkind way that the person is not at all important. What is the opposite of nobody? Antonyms: anyone, anybody, everybody, somebody, someone, everyone.
What is another word for nobody? LIGHTWEIGHT NONENTITY nullity number pigmy pip-squeak pygmy shrimp snippersnapper twerp
What is the positive word of nobody? In this page you can discover 41 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for nobody, like: no one, absence, somebody, not a soul, vip, sycophant, jackstraw, not anybody, zero, nullity and upstart.
What is an unimportant person called? If you’ve ever felt like a bit of a loser, firstly, I think that a lot of us have likely felt that way at some point or another. Secondly, the simple fact that you’ve even pondered it, highlights one of the reasons you are probably not a loser. Why? Because I’m not sure real losers actually ever see themselves as such.
So, what makes a loser a loser? Some people may argue it’s the car you drive, the job you have, or whether you still live at home with your parents at the age of 45. But these are just surface markers that don’t define us. Surely what makes someone a loser (or a success) in life goes so much deeper to our core. In this article, I’ll run through 13 traits that I think will turn anyone into a real loser in life.
How do I know if I am a loser? The times in my life when I’ve felt like a loser have happened when I tried to measure myself with the wrong scale. What I mean by that is, I’ve taken an outside look at other people’s lives and concluded that in comparison I don’t stack up somehow. They’ve achieved something I haven’t, they earn money that I don’t, they have a relationship status I wished I had. I don’t know if you can relate, but you end up throwing so many “shoulds” at yourself — I “should” have this, I “should” be here by now — that you never stand a chance under the weight of all the unfair expectations. A loser is a person who is ultimately a bit worthless. But what defines someone’s worth? I think you can have millions in the bank, be at the top of your field and still be a bit of a loser. Ultimately in life, it’s not our ever-changing external life circumstances that really define us, surely, it’s our character. So, if you’re wondering if you’re destined to be a loser, it’s more about the qualities you embody and who you chose to be. What’s your superpower? Our revealing new quiz will help you discover your hidden superpower and unlock your greatest gifts in life.
